


Unexpected Consequences

by Quido



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-02
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-07-19 15:37:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 41,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7367482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quido/pseuds/Quido
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Allspark - mysterious, powerful, capable of filling a world with life. A device that filled an entire cavern under Hoover Dam, yet could shrink to the size of a basketball. A force of creation used as a weapon of destruction. There's got to be some kind of fallout from that, right?  Let's see shall we?   - Story begins at end of First Bay Movie and will include Generation One characters -</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ^^Words Words Words^^ - Cybertronian Language  
> ::Words Words Words:: - Internal Electronic Communications

Judy Witwicky just couldn't believe it, she'd just spent all of Saturday night, Sunday and Monday morning answering innumerable questions from a couple of men in dark suits. Before, she had always scoffed at her brother's conspiracy theory fetish, but after sitting alone on hard metal seats in dingy cinderblock rooms for hours on end, sleeping on a narrow metal cot under scratchy wool blankets in a locked cell, being asked the same questions over and over for hours, and only being fed greasy fast food and gallons of sludgy coffee, she had to wonder if the things her brother spouted had a grain of truth to them. That and all of the kerfuffle those men had caused tearing up the yard and pulling them out of the house. The nerve of them separating her from Sam! Judy sighed, she was worried for the boy, he'd been acting so flighty ever since Ron had helped him get that car. Then finding him with that girl, Mikaela, in his room, she would have to consider if Sam deserved any punishment for sneaking her in. Rubbing at her forehead to try and stave off the headache building behind her eyes Judy wondered for a moment if Ron felt the same worry. She'd only seen him a couple of times since they had arrived, but she wasn't as concerned about him. After all, Ron was an adult and they both had seen enough cop shows to know that suspects were separated for questioning.

Once again she was sitting on a hard metal chair in an interrogation room nursing a cup of tepid brown liquid that they referred to as 'coffee'. As near as she could figure it was getting close to noon. The door opened and Ron came in, followed by two men in charcoal suits. The men each carried briefcases and file folders. Ron quickly crossed the room and grasped Judy's arms, checking her over to make sure she was fine. Judy nodded to show she was okay and the two of them sat along one side of the steel table in the center of the room. The men in suits calmly took seats on the opposite side of the table.

“Mr. and Mrs. Witwicky, the United States Government would like to express our apologies for the stress you've been put under for the past couple of days. We also thank you for your cooperation with our questioning. We now know that neither of you have any knowledge of the events surrounding the attacks on Hoover Dam and Mission City.”

“Attacks!” Judy interrupted shrilly, “What attacks? Are you telling me that there was some kind of terrorist attack, while we've been here?”

“Yes ma'am, that's exactly what I'm saying. The reason you and your family were taken into custody, was to determine if any of you had information relating to the instigators of the attack. I'm pleased to say that we have found nothing in our investigation that implicates that you and your family are in any way associated with the parties involved. Again I would like to express our apologies for inconveniencing you during this investigation, thank you for your cooperation with our questioning and assure you that your family is free and we will be returning you to your home shortly.”

“What about Sam? Is he coming home too?”

“Mrs. Witwicky, because of the radiation readings our equipment found at your residence, and the readings taken from your son, we need to have him cleared by our physicians before he can be released. I've been told that the levels that were indicated are not harmful to humans, but we want to make sure that your boy is healthy. I can assure you that he should return home shortly.”

\---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---

It was early in the evening on Monday when Judy and Ron Witwicky were returned to their home. The long weekend of questioning had taken it's toll, and Judy was particularly anxious when she found that Sam wouldn't be returning with them, as he and Mikaela had been taken to a separate facility. She'd ranted and threatened the men in the dark suits for quite a while before settling down into an icy silence at Ron's repeated pleas, and arriving at the realization that she wouldn't be getting any further information from the suits.

As they got home Ron sighed at the state of the house and yard. In the early evening light it looked as if a herd of wild beasts had held a garden party. His precious grass was all torn up, the garden fountain was smashed into bits, most of the decorative plantings around the house had been pulled up and tossed about. He'd put hours and hours of work into his yard, but right now he was too tired and anxious to consider doing anything about the mess.

Entering the house, Ron guided his wife to the living room and pushed her down gently, forcing her to sit on the couch. He could see by the look in her eyes that Judy was frustrated, concerned, confused, and angry. 

“Judy, Sam will be back soon. I can't think of any reason for them to keep hold of him.”

“But... What about that incident at the police department? You said that Sam told the officers some story about his car 'standing up',” Judy wrung her hands as she spoke, “What if they have some kind of psychiatrist evaluate him and tell us he needs help?”

Ron sighed, he was concerned about that as well, but he didn't want to alarm his wife further, “If that's the case we'll have to deal with it when it comes. Right now I think it would be best if we tried to get some rest so we'll be able to welcome Sam home when they bring him.”

Judy nodded as she made herself more comfortable on the couch. For a while her thoughts whirled, not settling on any one thing, it seemed like ever since Ron had taken Sam to get that clunker of a car things had gotten very strange. Sam had always been a little prone to rushing about, relying on a fast tongue, a quick wit, tight reflexes, and an ability to run to keep himself out of most trouble. Before getting the car, Sam had normally employed these skills to get out of the fallout from harmless pranks that he had played with his friend Miles. The events over the past few days were much more serious. Who would have thought that anyone would be interested in stealing that old beat up Camaro?

\---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---Previously Elsewhere---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---

Ratchet watched as a member of the human military took down Blackout in a daring move. For being so fragile the humans were surprisingly fearless and at times almost suicidal. Sweeping the area with his sensors Ratchet's aurals caught the unmistakable screaming howl of Starscream's engines as he retreated from the battlefield. The sounds of the fight between Megatron and Optimus were moving away and Ratchet felt his medical programming move to priority.

“Ironhide!” he snapped, “Are you mobile?”

“Yes” the black mech answered.

“Go retrieve Jazz's legs! Hurry!” he barked as he took off scrambling over the rubble in the street to where he could sense Jazz's spark flickering. As he moved down the street Ratchet prepped the tool he would need for a procedure he hadn't performed since the battle of Tyger Pax on Cybertron. Pulling several components out of his various sub space pockets Ratchet quickly assembled a device that looked a little like an oversized bicycle pump with a plunger attached to one end. Its surface was covered with little lights and gages and unspooling a cable from an outlet in his wrist Ratchet plugged himself into an available data port on the rod shaped housing.

Arriving at the crumpled pile of metal, Ratchet cringed at the state of Jazz's torso. The silver saboteur's frame was in bad shape, Ratchet could clearly see the impressions left by Megatron's claws where he had gripped the mech before he had torn him in half. Portions of Jazz's shoulders, and one side of his helm were crushed from the impact of hitting the ground after Megatron had flung the pieces away from his rooftop perch. Ratchet hoped that Jazz's memory core was intact, if it wasn't then the medic's hope of rescuing the music loving mech intact was all but lost. Working quickly Ratchet deactivated Jazz's still operational pain receptors and exposed Jazz's spark casing. The fluttering blue light of the damaged mech's spark was clearly visible for a moment before Ratchet covered it with the suction cup like end of the tool he'd assembled on the way.

Checking the readings on the various gages and watching the lights, Ratchet was satisfied with the results. He twisted the “T” shaped handle and pulled, the lights flashed and the gages jumped as the rod shaped tool began to glow. Ratchet reached into another of his sub space pockets and withdrew a smooth surfaced, dark silver sphere about twice the size of an Earth bowling ball. Holding the sphere in one hand Ratchet reached into Jazz's chest cavity and grabbed the tool. Breaking the seal it had on Jazz's now dark spark chamber he lifted it free and stuck the sphere onto the suction cup. Ratchet gave the handle another twist and pushed it back to its starting position. He watched closely as the lights and gages on the tool blinked and flashed again before going dark. A wave of blue light, from his medical scanners washed across both the tool and the silver sphere before Ratchet nodded in satisfaction breaking the seal on the suction cup, disconnecting the cable and putting both objects into one of his carry-holds.

Turning back to the empty twisted frame on the ground, Ratchet began checking to see how much damage had been done to Jazz's memory core and other processors. With a gentle touch the medic loosened the crumpled helm and cracked visor that protected the silver mech's higher processors and a portion of his memory core. When his initial survey showed that the hardware components of Jazz's memory were intact Ratchet's frame relaxed, while a few processors would need to be replaced and it would take time to re-build the silver mech's frame they hadn't lost him forever.

It was possibly the most unfortunate time for Ironhide to arrive with Jazz's lower body, since all the visible evidence appeared to point to Jazz's permanent deactivation despite Ratchet's efforts. Seeing the medic relax Ironhide sagged, thinking the worst. Lowering his burden to the ground he looked to Ratchet for an explanation. Before Ratchet could begin to explain they both felt a huge discharge of energy as the Allspark was used to destroy Megatron. Electricity crackled across their frames, grounding out to the surrounding power lines and fire hydrants, as their systems diverted the large EMP wave that was generated. Their optics dimmed momentarily and they both registered on the heavy interference affecting their internal comms. With care Ironhide picked up both halves of Jazz's deactivated frame and carried them off in the direction they last knew Optimus was. Shaking his head Ratchet followed, he'd have to explain things later. Right now it was too important to discover the outcome of the battle and clear everyone out of the damaged city. Walking behind Ironhide, Ratchet gently patted the plating that covered the carry-hold where he had placed the dark silver sphere and whispered to himself, “Jazz, you should thank Primus that Wheeljack helped me develop that spark rescue tool. If it weren't for him then I wouldn't have a hope of saving you.”

Ratchet didn't intervene as Ironhide brought the pieces of Jazz's frame to Optimus and stated that “We couldn't save him”. Neither did he interrupt when Optimus made his short but inspirational speech about loosing friends and gaining new allies. Ratchet only stepped in as Optimus was moving to coordinate with the military on the evacuation of the city and the clean up of the battle zone. Once the tall red and blue frame began moving toward the location were the humans had gathered and the injured were being assessed and loaded into emergency vehicles Ratchet caught Optimus' attention and spoke in Cybertronian

^^Prime?^^

^^Yes Ratchet?^^

^^I would be grateful if you could make sure that the deactivated Decepticons are not simply carted away. I'd like a chance to strip out those frames for parts.^^

^^Of course, I'll make sure that they are collected and stored. Anything else?^^

^^Well the sooner we have someplace I can set up as a med bay the better. I don't really need one for Bumblebee's repairs, but I will when I repair Jazz.^^

^^Yes, Yes... Wait... JAZZ?^^

Ratchet chuckled as Optimus froze in shock before turning a bright optic to the medic, ^^Of course Jazz. While the fool may have slagged himself good by taking on Megatron by himself like that, his spark was still pulsing when I reached him. I transferred his spark to a blank protoform using a tool I developed with Wheeljack for just such occasions. Jazz's spark will be fine until I can put it back in his frame.^^

^^What?... How...^^ The flame painted leader stammered.

^^Optimus, you know Wheeljack. You've seen how many times he's blown himself up with those half-glitched experiments of his. That mech has sent himself practically to the pit more times than I care to remember. You never would have even met him if we hadn't figured out a way of transferring a spark out of a critically damaged frame under field conditions. As long as their memory core is intact I can rebuild a mech from scratch and no-one will ever know they were almost deactivated. Jazz will be fine once I have a chance to put his frame back together and replace a few components and processors.^^

^^Thank you Ratchet, that is good news. As soon as I find out who we need to coordinate with I will start on making sure you have a place to work and that the Decepticon frames are available for parts.^^

\---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---

It wasn't until after the adrenaline wore off at the end of the Mission City battle that Sam realized how hurt he actually was. The medics who transported him inside Ratchet to the hospital had told him that he was in remarkably good shape, but that didn't change the fact that the human body just wasn't built to deal with running full tilt across an active war zone while cars, bullets, grenades, rockets, plasma bolts and sabot rounds exploded around you. Neither was it made for falling off of bridges and high buildings while being chased and caught by giant metal robots. It didn't matter to his ribs or back that, first Bumblebee then Optimus, were trying their best to save Sam from becoming street pizza when they caught him after his slip from the bridge and his fall when Megatron demolished the corner of the building. True they had been soft catches, but Sam was still bruised from shoulder to hip, front and back from the impacts. He had road rash on his back from his earlier close encounter with the Decepticon Monster Cop, his knees and elbows were scuffed, he had several cuts on his face and scalp from flying debris, he had a sprained toe from tripping on rubble, then there were his hands. Under the bandages were deep burns across both palms, the heat from the destruction of the All Spark scorching his skin half way up his lower arms, the backs of his hands were affected too, the skin showing a strange pattern of burns that wreathed his fingers and stretched towards his elbows.

Sam hadn't wanted to go to the hospital, and vocally protested about it, until Mikaela had pointed out that his burned hands were serious injuries and even if they weren't until he was out of the bandages he would have to ask for assistance with 'everything' and it might be easier to ask for help from a medical professional. Sgt. Epps and Captain Lennox also pointed out that once he stopped moving, his bruised joints and bones were not going to like getting moving again and they had good drugs for the pain at the hospital.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little gift for the 4th of July - Enjoy!
> 
> :Words Words Words: - Mental/Emotional Communications

With a groan Sam promised himself that he was never going to take his hands for granted again. Fingers and thumbs were truly wonderful things, and the experience of having them wrapped in bandages for weeks was providing Sam with a whole new level of appreciation for them. It wasn't so bad when he had been too bruised to move much, but now that most of the bruising had faded and the doctors were encouraging him to move more, not being able to do anything with his hands was becoming a real obstacle. The burns had needed surgical attention as well since the deepest ones were on the palms of his hands. He'd been through two procedures to remove the dead tissue and graft on new skin. His fingers were wrapped individually first in wet dressings and then in gauze to seal the wounds and his hands and arms were splinted to make sure he didn't damage his tendons. While the doctors were all being optimistic about his recovery at the moment he felt like something out of a second rate mummy movie. His arms were swathed in bandages when the nurses weren't there changing his dressings, or helping with his physical therapy. He couldn't get dressed, feed himself, open a door, or go to the bathroom without assistance, which was why he wasn't eager to leave the hospital before they said he was ready to go. Starting on the second day of his hospitalization the staff had to put up with his Mom, who was in full 'mother hen from hell' mode. She was trying to convince the doctors and nurses that Sam could come home and into her care, but that whole idea just weirded him out too much. Sam's Dad had come to the rescue, reminding Judy that Sam needed professional care for his burns if he wanted to have the best chances of ever using his hands again. Coupled with the fact that all the bills were being covered by the government, thanks to Secretary of Defense John Keller's insistence that he was a 'vital asset' due to his assistance during the 'Mission City Attack', there wasn't a valid reason for Sam to leave the base hospital.

Once the most serious threats of infection in his burns and the majority of his bruising had healed, the doctors encouraged Sam to get out of his room. With his Mother pushing the wheelchair, Sam met some of the other patients and realized just how lucky he was. There were a couple of other members of Captain Lennox's squad, a fellow named Jorge 'Fig' Figueroa who had been injured by a Decepticon in Qatar, and another, named John Chambers who had been in Mission City. The doctors were hopeful that Fig would make a full recovery, but John's injuries would mean his discharge from the military. Chambers suffered from burns on his hands, similar to Sam's, that he'd received when he had rescued an infant from a burning car. He didn't regret any of his actions, but he was looking at a long recovery with repeated surgeries and multiple skin grafts to regain even partial use of his hands. The doctors had also told John that he would probably lose the ends of at least two fingers from each hand. Comparing their wounds, Sam began to wonder if even during the violence of Megatron's final moments the All Spark had protected him from the worst of its destruction.

\---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---

Sam had the head of his bed raised up and was trying to loose himself in a daytime game show on the television when his primary doctor, Dr. Martin, came into the room wheeling in his tray of bandages, sterile water, catch basins, tweezers, scalpels, and scrub brushes. About a half hour earlier a nurse had come by with a strong dose of ibuprofen which Sam took in preparation for what had rapidly become the worst part of every day while he was on the burn ward. Judy sat up alertly and put down the magazine she had been flipping through, but stayed in her seat by the window. Every day Dr. Martin, or one of the nurses on the burn ward came in and removed the bandages on Sam's hands and proceeded to check and clean the wounds on his hands. Healing serious burns was a slow and painful process, but the daily cleaning was necessary to make sure the skin grafts took and to keep down the chance of infection. Sam winced as the doctor removed the final layer of dressings. Noticing the movement he nodded, “Okay Sam, are you going to be alright?”

Sam nodded and the doctor gently lifted Sam's right hand and rotated his wrist slowly. Sam winced again and his fingers twitched. “This is actually a good thing Sam, very good in fact. You're regaining feeling in your hands?”

“Yes,” Sam hissed as the movement and the air hitting the tender new flesh of his burns made them sting.

“I'm sure it's not comfortable, but the grafts are taking exceptionally well and the fact that you are getting sensation back so soon is a very good sign for your recovery. With what I've seen so far I believe you will be lucky enough to have a significant, if not total, recovery of both sensation and movement. I've had several patients with burns similar to yours and the younger ones have almost always had the most successful recoveries. Quite a few have no noticeable impairments once they heal.”

It was with an almost morbid fascination that Sam examined the still angry looking burns exposed on his now unwrapped hands. He could still see some of the patterns and symbols from the All-Spark branded into his palms, and it was a little surprising that even after most of the skin there had been replaced by grafts the symbols had stayed. Other marks that sort of looked like flames wrapped around the edges of his fingers, tracing across the backs of his hands and wound their way half way to his elbows. Those marks reminded him a little of Optimus' flame paint job, which had Sam biting back a snigger.

“What about those marks on his hands?” Judy Witwicky asked as she watched Sam examine the burns. 

“Well,” Dr. Martin hedged, “the burns were deep enough that I'm afraid Sam will always have some amount of scarring from this, but there are several things we can do to decrease the development of heavy scars. Sam, once the burns have fully closed we can fit you with compression garments, think of close fitting long gloves, made from an elastic material that will cover your hands and arms. Wearing them will help stop the creation of Hypertropic scars, which is a thickening and stiffening of the healing tissue. The hand and wrist splints we're already using, along with the daily physical therapy and range of motion exercises, are also important to keep you from developing Contracture scars which would affect your mobility through a tightening of the tendons and skin. Sam, I'll tell you now that you should expect to wear the compression garments for at least the next year, and by wear I mean you'll have them on for twenty three hours a day, seven days a week. The splints are a little more flexible, you can take them off to get dressed, eat and such, but you'll be wearing them for almost as much time through the next six to eight months. I admit that the gloves and splints aren't terribly fashionable. However, using this combination is your best hope for healing without the scars affecting your range of motion. Unless what scarring develops is negatively affecting your movement, I don't recommend having anything done surgically or cosmetically for at least two years in cases like this. We want to be sure to give your body the best chance to repair the damage on its own first.” Dr. Martin made sure to catch Sam's eyes to stress how important it was for him to focus on healing properly and to follow his instructions or he could do further damage to his hands, possibly crippling himself for life. Sam met the doctor's gaze and nodded to show his understanding and acceptance of the prognosis and his agreement to follow the doctor's course of treatment.

“Ok,” Judy agreed, “Can we do anything else to assist Sam's healing process?”

“Yes, I can provide you with a dietary guideline that has been shown to support healing in burn victims. Burns take a lot of energy to heal, so the body has an increased need for calories. However, they need to be well balanced to provide the raw materials needed to create new skin. There are also a few creams and oils that will help keep the new skin hydrated, and give it the elasticity it needs. That should also help reduce any scarring.” Dr. Martin explained as he replaced the dressings on Sam's hands. “These are looking good today, so I'm going to hold off on debridement of them for now. We'll have another look tomorrow. If things continue to progress as they are, I estimate that we'll be able to release you in about two weeks.”

\---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---

“Okay Sam, I want you to close your eyes and just listen to my voice...”

Sam's doctors had suggested that he start seeing one of their military psychiatrists shortly after they discovered that he was suffering from horrendous nightmares as a result of being in the Mission City battle. Since the psychiatrist was cleared to hear top secret information Sam didn't have to worry about hiding anything. They had been meeting every other day, and Sam could admit that the sessions with Dr. Hutchins were helping him cope with the truly fantastic, and at times terrifying, experiences meeting the Autobots had brought into his life. For the past few weeks Dr. Hutchins had been leading Sam through a technique called 'guided meditation' that was showing a lot of promise and it had the additional benefit of being something that Sam was able to do on his own once he became comfortable with it. It took only a few sessions of guidance until Sam was able to create a 'safe place' inside his head. Then their sessions turned to confronting his fears and addressing the trauma he had experienced.

Following the verbal instructions from his therapist, Sam created a visualization of his 'safe place'. At first Sam was surprised that when he was directed to imagine the place he felt safest the first thing that came to mind was Bumblebee's interior, with him in the passenger seat. However, after giving it a little more thought Sam realized that nothing before the arrival of the Autobots had inspired such strong feelings both positive and negative, in his entire life. During everything that subsequently happened the safest he'd ever felt was when he was riding inside Bumblebee being chased by the insane cop car or racing to Mission City with the All Spark in the back-seat. So Sam went with it, letting his mind fill in the details until he was able to comfortably visualize Bee's interior as his 'safe place' whenever he was feeling stressed, or wanted to contemplate things that bothered him. 

When he was in sessions with Dr. Hutchins Sam felt a little like he was watching something at a drive in movie theater, the action all played out on the other side of Bee's windows, while he was cozy and safe, snuggled into the passenger seat. The doctor assured Sam that this was normal and healthy since his mind needed to distance himself from the traumatic experiences of the Mission City attack. Each time they met Sam found that it was getting easier for him to bring up the visualization of his 'safe place'. When they first started it took Sam several minutes of Dr. Hutchins' patient instruction for Sam to bring the visualization forward. Now it only took about a second for Sam to wrap the image around his mental self. It was during one of the sessions that Sam first became aware of a feeling like he was being watched as he sat in Bee's virtual cab and spoke with the doctor about the absolute terror he'd felt while he was fleeing across the battlefield with Megatron chasing him. The oddest part was that the feeling of being watched almost felt like it was coming from outside. Sam could also tell that whatever was watching could 'see' everything that he was thinking about. If anything, Sam would have said that it reminded him of the feeling he got when someone was reading over his shoulder, but Sam knew that he was lying in his hospital bed and that there was no one behind him. The feeling of being watched didn't feel malicious, just highly curious so Sam relaxed a little.

Over the next few days Sam found the impression of someone watching curiously over his shoulder increased. The presence was strongest when he was using the meditation techniques in his sessions with Dr. Hutchins, but Sam had noticed that the feeling persisted for several hours after they were done. Sam also noticed that it returned when he was feeling relaxed or when he was doing things like his homework or watching television. Sam hadn't brought up his feelings of being 'watched' during his sessions yet, but he was beginning to think that there was something strange going on. Dr. Hutchins had encouraged Sam to continue working with his guided meditation even outside of their scheduled sessions so he was getting pretty good at bringing up his 'safe place' at a moment's notice. Deciding that the continued feelings of having someone curiously watching over his shoulder were just too odd to ignore Sam quickly fell into his meditative state the next time he felt the curious presence.

Surrounding himself with his visualization of the comfortable environment of Bumblebee's interior, Sam realized that he wasn't alone in his 'safe place'. Reassuring himself that, even if he hadn't consciously invited the curious presence into his 'safe place', he wasn't feeling particularly suicidal and his unconscious mind wouldn't allow anything that could cause harm to exist in here Sam examined the representation of Bumblebee's interior to find what was out of place. On the back seat Sam discovered a tiny cube, glowing faintly with a bluish white light. It was sitting approximately in the same location the Allspark had traveled in on the day of the Mission City attack. Using more visualization techniques Sam reached out and carefully picked up the tiny cube, bringing it closer and holding it cupped in his left hand.

A sudden feeling of fear and terror swept over Sam almost causing him to drop the tiny glowing cube, until he realized that the feelings he was experiencing were coming from it. The cube was tiny, in his hand it wasn't any larger than one of those mini marshmallows that his Mom would put on his hot chocolate. Holding it closer Sam began to whisper to it, “Shh, its okay... I'm not going to hurt you...”

Taking a closer look, Sam could just see the symbols and swirls etched into the surface of the cube, and that's when it clicked. With a shock of recognition Sam blurted the only thing he could think of, “You're the Allspark!, or at least part of it, but how did you get in here?”

The tiny cube began to quiver in fright as Sam identified it and Sam was quick to try to reassure it that he wasn't going to harm the ancient artifact. “Shh, don't panic now. Its going to be okay. Let's think about this calmly. I know that right now I'm using meditation to visualize myself in my 'safe place' and that nothing can harm me here. So, I'm going to assume that you showed up here because you don't mean to cause me any harm, and you feel safer here than someplace like... I don't know... Hoover Dam?”

As Sam spoke calmly, trying to figure out what was going on, the little cube stopped trembling and Sam got the impression that it was listening closely.  
“So, next thing, since this 'safe place' is my mental construct that means that the Allspark is somehow inside my head, and it is able to at least observe my thoughts.” Sam mused quietly as he continued to mentally 'look' at the little cube, “Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, Sparky.”

Sam got the impression that if a cube was capable of blinking in surprise the tiny Allspark in his hand just did. Sam chuckled a little, “Let me guess, no one ever thought to give you a name?”  
A small flutter of sadness came from the cube.

“Well, I hope you don't mind me calling you Sparky.”

The tiny cube gave off a warm, comfortable glow in Sam's hand.

“I'll take that as a yes. Can you talk? It might make things easier.”

The cube dimmed for a moment and then began to flicker with light, small sparks of electricity arcing off of it and tingling in Sam's hand.  
“Sorry Sparky, I don't think that humans were built to understand that. I think we were better off with whatever you were doing earlier. I should have probably asked this earlier, but since you're inside my head can you read my mind?”

The cube flickered and pulsed and Sam got an odd uncertain feeling from it.  
“Okay, maybe that was too difficult of a question. I'll try to come up with some other ideas that will make communications easier. Right now I just have a couple of things I'd like to know and I think I can figure out how to ask yes and no questions about them. You good with that?”

The cube dimmed and then Sam felt the comfortable warm glow return.  
“Good, I'll take that as yes. Now do something opposite and we'll have something for no.”

The cube dimmed and then Sam felt a cold prickly sensation.  
“Okay that works.” Sam said with a nod, “Now, first thing, are you physically inside my body?”

:Affirmation:

“Hm, while I'd like to know exactly how that happened, I don't think we're capable of that level of communication yet, right?”

:Affirmation:

“So you've been inside me since we took down Megatron, but I've only been aware of your presence for the past couple of days. Were you too worn out to show yourself before?”

:Hesitant Affirmation:

“Were you injured? Can you be injured?”

:Confusion: :Uncertainty:

“Alright, so you're not injured, and you weren't too tired,” Sam puzzled over this while he continued to look at the tiny cube in his hand. Then he remembered how huge the Allspark was when it rested under Hoover Dam, and how Bee had managed to trigger some kind of function that collapsed it in on itself until it was not much larger than a basketball. An idea began to take shape once Sam remembered this and he shared his thought. “How's this, I saw how big you were under Hoover Dam, and I saw Bee trigger some kind of command that made you smaller. Do you have some other kind of trigger for when you are in danger?”

:Strong Affirmation:

“When I shoved you against Megatron's chest I triggered that command didn't I.”

:Affirmation:

“I'd been wondering a little about that. I mean Megatron's spark was protected by his armor. Just shoving you against him shouldn't have started the chain reaction I saw. I'm certainly not strong enough to even put a dent in a Cybertronian's armor. Optimus had exposed his spark when he asked me to destroy you by pushing the cube into his chest.” Sam mused, “So, were you too small for me to notice you before this?”

:Strong Affirmation:

“And now you've grown big enough for me to notice you.”

:Affirmation:

“Sparky, are you going to keep growing?”

:Hesitant Affirmative:

“Hm, let me think... You are going to keep growing, but you don't want to hurt me?”

:Very Strong Affirmation:

“Could you get out of my body?”

:Uncertainty:

“Could you be removed?”

:Hesitant Affirmation:

“Would you survive if you were removed right now?”

:Uncertainty, Sorrow, Loneliness, Fear, Negative:

“Okay, would you be able to survive if we wait for you to get bigger?”

:Sorrow, Loneliness, Fear, Hesitant Affirmation:

“Er, let me see if I can translate that,” Sam mulled over the sensations he was feeling come from the small cube. “Okay...If we wait until you're big enough to survive outside of me you could be removed, but you don't want that because you're lonely and afraid?”

:Affirmation:

“But you're the Allspark! What do you have to be afraid of? You just let me know that you can't be injured...”

The tiny cube flickered again and Sam was suddenly flooded with feelings of crushing loneliness and a sensation of vast amounts of time spent in isolation and cold darkness. The sensations were made worse by occasional periods of flickering contact and interaction. Sam suddenly realized that he now understood something about the Allspark that no one else knew. Somewhere far back in time the Allspark had gained a sense of self-awareness that was not intended in its original purpose. Until Sam had 'broken' its container and been exposed to its energy directly the Allspark had been trapped. The cube had no means of self propulsion, limited sensor capabilities and only had a limited range of communication with a few of the sparks it had brought into the universe.

“Oh God,” Sam whispered, as the impact of what he'd just learned struck him, “Prime and the others... They don't know you're aware, do they?”

:Sadness, Affirmation:

“You could do what they asked, but you couldn't reach them, even as much as you can reach me, right?”

:Sadness, Affirmation:

“Alright...Well we can't make any decisions about this right now. You're too small to survive if they did remove you, so we'll just have to keep it quiet that you're inside me. I won't be able to even think about contacting Optimus and the others until I'm back home, and that's going to be a few more weeks away. So, if you're willing to work with me, we have time to come up with some way of protecting you, while giving you more freedom. We'll also have to think up some way for you to have more say in how your abilities are used. I hate that those suits and scientists from Sector Seven just poked and prodded you until you discharged a spark and then snuffed it when they found they couldn't control it.”

:Hope, Affirmation, Confusion:

“Didn't you know what they were doing to you when you were underground?”

:Uncertainty Negative:

“Okay, let's see if I can explain...” Sam paused, “When I use visualization like I am right now can you 'see' what I'm thinking about?”

:Affirmation:

“So if I replayed my memories and gave you some commentary you would understand?” Sam asked as he gestured at Bee's 'windshield' where he usually projected his thoughts during the sessions with Dr. Hutchins.

:Hesitant Affirmation:

Sam spent the next few hours playing back his memories like he did when he was in sessions with Dr. Hutchins, but made sure that he focused on what he had learned of the Allspark from Optimus Prime and his own observations about what he'd seen under Hoover Dam. He had to go fairly slowly, since the Allspark was still learning how to interpret the information that Sam was sharing with it. Seeing and Hearing were still somewhat abstract concepts to the quickly learning artifact, but Sam found that he was rapidly improving his ability to translate its emotional responses. Apparently now that the Allspark was inside of Sam's body it could receive information from Sam's senses, and while they were limited by their organic nature, it was still more sources of input than the Allspark had ever experienced before.

Before this the Allspark knew that optics were for the collection of 'visual' information through the reaction of lenses and filters to the visible spectrum of light which was then interpreted by programming in a Cybertronian's main processor, but now it learned what it meant to 'see'. Similarly it knew that auditory sensors allowed for the collection of sound-waves, but now it was learning what it meant to 'hear'. Because of this sudden flood of input the Allspark had to take several breaks to process all the additional information which Sam was glad for because it took some effort to converse with the artifact while maintaining the visualization of Bumblebee's interior. Once they had gotten through the basics of Sam's knowledge of recent history concerning the Allspark they called it a night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ^^Words Words Words^^ - translation of Cybertronian Electronic Language

Sam began spending several hours each day getting to know the Allspark better. At first their interactions were limited to Sam showing his memories and the Allspark responding with emotions. The real breakthrough came when Sparky finally understood the connection between what it had learned from scanning Bumblebee when the Autobot had touched it under Hoover Dam and what it could experience through Sam's senses. Bumblebee had provided a copy of his knowledge of Earth and Earth languages, but that alone wasn't enough. Sam had discovered that while Bee's file of downloaded information was copied and saved in Sparky's memory the Allspark's awareness didn't have any experience in connecting what it learned this way to what it had observed with its own limited sensors. If Sam had to explain the situation to someone else he would have told them that it was like having a website that contained a bunch of broken links to the data it was supposed to contain. Conceptually Sam decided that this whole experience was like what he had learned about Annie Sullivan working with Helen Keller, the deaf and blind woman who had become a world known author and activist for women's rights.

Ms. Sullivan worked with Helen, teaching her basic manners and trying to overcome Helen's lack of communication abilities, but everything was a struggle until they had what was called 'the miracle at the water pump' where Helen finally made the connection between the fluid that came from the pump and the word 'water'. Helen had been taught signs for 'water', but she hadn't understood what the word meant until she had felt it flow over her hands at the pump. Sam realized that working with Sparky was similar. Over time the Allspark had accumulated a huge reference file of things, but having over a thousand names and definitions for water still didn't tell you that it was wet. With Sam's help the Allspark had finally been able to make the basic connections at the foundations of its perception that would eventually allow Sparky to fully understand all the files that had been given to it by its interactions with its Cybertronian children. Together they developed a mental language that they could speak while Sam was using his mindscape. It was made up from a combination of speech, written words, both in English and Cybertronian, pictures from Sam's memories and sounds. Sam had taken to watching a lot of nature and science documentaries, old sitcoms and reruns of science fiction shows to help build up a 'dictionary' of mutually understood references. It wasn't perfect, Sparky was finding that English was both liberating and restricting when trying to describe Cybertronian concepts and Sam was finding it difficult to wrap his brain around a totally alien consciousness. However, both were determined to learn from each other and take the time to explain what they needed to so they were making progress.

Sam had also noticed that the landscape of his 'safe place' had changed quite a bit since he had begun 'conversing' with the Allspark. More often than not the imagery was outdoors, in places like the lookout or the lake, but one constant was that Bumblebee was always nearby. Sam had also taken to 'carrying' the little cube that represented the Allspark whenever he meditated, and found that it was easier and less tiring to communicate with the artifact if he was mentally 'touching' it. As the weeks passed Sam could see signs that the Allspark was recovering. At first Sam was concerned as its growth had slowed, but it was now doing other things. It had taken to hovering over his hand and spinning on one point when Sam was talking to it. Sam found that he could get a pretty good idea of how Sparky was 'feeling' by how it looked as it spun, glittered and flashed over his palm as they talked.

\---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---

Sam sighed, the doctors had finally said that he would be going home either tomorrow or the following day. It was six weeks since the battle of Mission City and Dr. Martin was extremely happy with how the burns on his hands were healing. Today he was fitted for the compression garments and splints that he would be wearing for the next six months or more so that he would have the best chances of regaining full use of his hands and fingers. His sessions with Dr. Hutchins had helped him deal with the mental trauma incurred by dealing with the Decepticons and had given him the tools to keep working through his fears and communicate with the recovering Allspark that he carried inside his body. His mother had even gone home around noon, giving Sam the excuse that she wanted to be sure that the house was still standing and everything was in good shape for when he was released, because she hadn't married his father for Ron's housekeeping skills. So Sam had the evening to himself and he was enjoying the feeling of solitude that came from having the Allspark as the only other presence in the room. Using the remote, Sam flipped on the television and settled on a channel that was running a marathon of classic Star Trek episodes, he then slipped into an easy meditative state so he could talk with Sparky.

Wrapping his 'safe place' around his awareness Sam gazed into his palm, Sparky was hovering just above the surface of his hand slowly spinning, its surface glittered with reflective light and small arcs of electricity. They needed to come up with a plan for how they would explain the presence of the Allspark inside Sam and the fact that it was aware and intelligent. Sam also knew that he would have to come up with a plan to convince the Autobots that he was willingly working with the Allspark and that it wasn't coercing him into service. The fact that Sparky was revered by Cybertronians as a powerful and not fully understood artifact, as well as that its current form was too fragile to exist outside of Sam's body were things that both of them hoped would at least give them time to state their full arguments to Optimus Prime. Sam believed it would fall to Prime to make the final decision if the others began to push for the removal of the Allspark from Sam's body.

“Hey Sparky, I'm sure you heard that they're letting us out of here tomorrow or the next day. So, I guess it's time to make some decisions and plans.”

“Yep,” Sparky agreed.

“Do you have an estimate on how long it will take you to recover enough so that you could survive being removed from my body?”

“Under current rate of recovery, 5479 days needed for a 99% chance of survival for both parties undergoing procedure.”

“I don't think that we'll be able to hide your presence from the Autobots for that long after we leave here. I'm sure that Ratchet's scanners will at least be able to pick up that there's something different about me the first chance he gets, unless you can mask yourself somehow?”

“Not yet. Could later, if Sam willing?”

“Willing? How?”

Sparky played part of the opening from 'Six Million Dollar Man' “Rebuild him. Make him better, faster, stronger.”"

“What, like change me into a mech?”

“Yep!”

“Um, I didn't think that was possible.”

“Look, watch, learn,” Sparky chirped brightly before it projected an image above itself. The image started as a picture of Sam and zoomed closer and closer until Sam could see individual cells. It didn't stop there, continuing to zoom until Sam was confronted with the very molecules and elements that made up his body at the atomic level. Then the image split, and while the picture of what made up Sam stayed still, the second half of the picture did a similar zoom in of the Allspark's structure. When a small graphic at the bottom of each half of the image showed that they were at the same magnification the images stilled and Sam looked closely, blinking in the realization that the only real differences were that the Allspark had a few additional molecules and that what was there was packed closer together.

“Wow...”

“We're all Stardust, Sam. Almost same elements to build, just different percentages and programs to run.” Sparky explained. 

“So, what you're suggesting is that I let you add, switch or change what elements make us different and then 'program' my body to be like that of a Cybertronian?”

“Not Cybertronian.” Sparky clarified.

Sam was puzzled for a moment, until he looked back at the images which compared their structure at the atomic level and then his eyebrows jumped toward his hairline, “Wait, if you do this then I'd be more like you right?”

“Roger, roger,” Sparky chirped.

Sam paused, thinking hard about what this meant. If he agreed to this then he could work with the Autobots and better defend the Allspark while it recovered, but he would no longer be human. He would far outlive his human family and friends. He would never have the life he had originally planned, going to college, finding a career, getting married, having kids. However, Sam also knew that with the continued threat of Decepticons making their way to Earth alongside the remaining Autobots who were scattered across the galaxy, most of his hopeful plans for a quiet life would be turned on their heads anyway. Sam had spent the last six weeks working things out in his head, connecting with the Allspark and contemplating his place in the scope of larger things. Sam was already getting the feeling that he would never be comfortable if he turned down Sparky's offer.

“How would this help mask your presence?” Sam asked.

“Technology: dampening field, frequency scrambler, radiation shielding.”

“Okay, so changing my structure would allow you to 'program' that technology into my body?”

“Yep.”

“Wouldn't changing my structure to be more like yours restrict my shape?”

“Nope, base from Cybertronian templates. Plan, design, build something new.”

“Okay, but that still won't keep Ratchet from discovering you the first time he scans me. Are you alright with them finding you right away?”

“Yep, info from Bumblebee say Ratchet is ^^Medic/Mechanic^^. Could use his help with plan, design, and monitor the build, make it safer.”

“So this isn't something we're going to do tonight.”

“Nope, need time. Not enough energy yet. You agree to be rebuilt?”

Sam stopped to think about it again, agreeing to this would put his feet on a path that no one else could follow him down. It wasn't without a ton of risk, or sacrifice. 'No Sacrifice, No Victory!' the Witwicky family motto echoed inside his head causing Sam to smile a little. He doubted that Great Grandpa Archie could have ever considered that his progeny would be led to this scenario when he adopted that phrase as his battle-cry, but those words had pushed several of the Witwicky family members to overcome long odds and come out better for it. It was with these thoughts flowing through his mind that Sam made his decision; he would willingly sacrifice his body and his human future to help the Allspark for as long as it needed him to.  
“Yeah, I agree to be rebuilt. I think that it's going to be the best bet to provide you with enough time to heal, make the others understand that you're alive and aware and give you a chance to be accepted as yourself. When do you think you'll be able to start?”

“Once plan, design done need about 30 days to store energy before build starts.”

“How long do you estimate that the build will take?”

“Depend on design, could only be very basic with existing material and would take about 10 days for initial build. Basic build would require additional modification to be adequate in defense and protection. With access to adequate raw materials, and energy source, complete build would take about 30 days.”

“What will rebuilding me do to your own recovery?”

“Extend time, reset clock, be like baby spark; 10,958 days. Either build.”

“Okay so doing this will double your recovery time, but it will also give me a life span comparable to a Cybertronian right?”

“Roger, roger,” Sparky chirped.

“That's not such a bad trade. From what I know about Bee and the others that many days is barely a drop in the ocean.”

“Yep, short time.”


	4. Chapter 4

Sam finished the school year from his hospital room, but was released two weeks into summer break. In all he'd spent six weeks under the care of Dr. Martin and Dr. Hutchins. By the time Sam came home from the hospital, the Allspark had become a kind of 'silent' partner. Sam had gotten used to the feeling of having it 'read over his shoulder' and he could now hear its commentary without effort. Sam was surprised that the presence of the Allspark in his head wasn't more of a distraction, but the cube appeared to be genuinely grateful and appreciative of Sam's cooperation and his ability to give it visual, auditory and tactile input. It was absorbing all the new information like a dry sponge in a bucket of water and Sam found that he was going a little out of his way to offer the Allspark new experiences. Sam made sure that he went to all the places he enjoyed as a kid, the local park, the library, the hands on museum, the planetarium, the lake, and the lookout.

His parents were still concerned for him and even after receiving word from Dr. Hutchins that Sam was mentally 'cleared for duty' they had essentially 'grounded' him for the summer. However, Sam found that he could convince his Mom to join him on his little 'field trips' to places like the museum and the planetarium, and she didn't mind if he went to the library as long as he was home before Ron came back from work. With his hands still healing Judy couldn't require Sam to do any heavy chores like yard work, or heavy cleaning and she thought that what she saw as an increased interest in his education was a good thing. Miles wondered where Sam's sudden interest in books and 'kid stuff' had come from, but was happy to tag along whenever he was free of his own chores.

Ron had quite vocally refused to replace Sam's car even though its 'loss' during the Mission City Attack was clearly not Sam's fault in any way, shape or form. Sam just listened and nodded, he hadn't even considered asking his Dad to replace the Camaro since he knew that eventually Bee would return, once he had been repaired and they had figured out a cover story to explain why the 'government' would replace a 1976 'piece of crap' Camaro with a concept 2009 one. Part of Sam thought that they should avoid what he could see as a potential problem of epic proportions and just tell his parents the truth and ask them to sign some kind of non-disclosure form, but unfortunately that wasn't his decision to make. Lennox and Epps had told him that even Optimus had bowed to current political pressures and had grudgingly agreed that for now the fewer people who knew the truth about the Autobots, that there actually was alien life among us, the better. Sam also found that this official decision had started to put a strain on his friendship with Miles. He was getting tired of constantly brushing off his best friend's questions when the conversation would drift to what had happened in Mission City. Miles had been Sam's best friend since pre-school and it hurt to keep having to say, “Sorry Miles, but it's classified,” whenever he would bring it up. What made it even worse was that Sam knew that Miles would have a great appreciation and respect for the Autobots if he were ever given the chance to meet them.

A week after Sam returned home he woke to the sound of two high performance engines idling outside his window. Peering out around the blinds Sam saw a flash of bright yellow and black that had him scrambling for clothes and almost falling down the stairs in his hurry to answer the front door. His Mom beat him to it and opened the door to reveal Will Lennox and Robert Epps standing on the front porch in full dress uniform. Bumblebee was parked in the drive and Ironhide was sitting at the curb. Judy remembered the officers from their visits with Sam while he was in the hospital and quickly invited them inside, offering them drinks and encouraging them to make themselves at home while she put a tray together.

Sam joined his two military friends in the living room and settled onto a side chair. “So how are things?” Sam asked.

Will and Epps grinned at him before Will began speaking, “Good, the new barracks are shaping up, Ratchet is even happy with the new motor-pool. He said that with a little modification he'll be able to pull off his usual miracles again. There's lots of space, no neighbors for miles.”

“Yeah, the area has a bit of a reputation, but its one we can definitely work with.” Epps said with a chuckle, “Remember Maggie and Glen? The two experts who helped figure out that attack on the Department of Defense computers? They've been having a field day, seems like everyone was moved out of the old place so quickly that a few computers got left behind and no one thought to wipe all the media.”

“Surprisingly, Tom and Reggie have been a big help as well.” Will added.

Sam snorted, he just couldn't see Agent Simmons being the least bit helpful.

“No really,” Will replied to Sam's snort, “Reg had quite the eye opener the day of Mission City, and he's a bit of a pack-rat. Turns out his family's been involved with things almost as long as yours, and he had back up copies of a lot of files that got destroyed when the systems at their base crashed. True, he shouldn't have had them at his home, but now he's working with Maggie and Glen to put it all in order and get it in a form we can work with.”

Judy came back from the kitchen bearing a tray with several glasses of iced tea and a plate of cookies.

“Thank you, Mrs. Witwicky.” Will said as he helped himself to a cookie.

“Yes, thank you.” Epps echoed as he reached for the tray.

They spent a few minutes on small talk, Judy asked how the others of their unit were getting along. She was glad to hear that Fig's health was improving and might be transferred to a base hospital closer to his family soon.

Will washed down his last bite of cookie and then got back to the main reason for their visit. “Mrs. Witwicky, the main reason we stopped by today is to express our official gratitude to Sam for his actions during the terrorist attacks on Mission City. Sam's actions that day exemplified all the qualities that as a member of the armed forces we look for when we put a soldier up for commendation or recommendation for 'battlefield advancement'. Since Sam is a civilian we are unfortunately limited in our options for showing our appreciation. The men of my unit along with Secretary of Defense Keller held several discussions and we all agreed that the least we could do was acknowledge his actions and bravery during the fight. Then a private citizen stepped up and offered to replace Sam's car which we'd commandeered and totaled during the attack.”

“Oh?” Judy gave the two officers a bit of a bewildered look. What they were saying did make sense and she hadn't been terribly happy with Ron's decision not to replace Sam's Camaro, after all it hadn't been Sam's fault that the car had been lost, even the insurance company agreed covering their claim without argument.

“Yes ma'am,” Will replied before standing up and straightening his uniform. At his movement Epps followed suit and indicated that Sam should stand also. Lennox and Epps' postures stiffened to attention as Will brought out a presentation folder from behind him and a velvet covered box from an inside pocket of his jacket.

“Samuel James Witwicky, it is with great pride and thanks that I present you with this letter of commendation from the Secretary of Defense and the President of the United States, in recognition of your actions during the terrorist attack on Mission City. In addition I also have the pleasure of presenting you with the title, registration, and keys for the 2009 concept Camaro presently parked in your driveway. The Camaro is a gift from a private citizen who wishes to remain anonymous, but wished to express his thanks 'to the brave young man who showed such courage in the face of overwhelming danger'.”

Sam stood there beaming, while his Mom made a few little gasping noises and her hands fluttered to cover her mouth and fan her face.

“Sam? Oh... Oh my...” Judy floundered as her brain processed everything Will said.

“Wow... Just wow.” Sam said quietly as he opened the folder and looked at fancy certificate and letter with the president's official seal and signature. “Look at it Mom. Its signed and everything!” Sam gushed and showed the document to his mother. As Judy examined it closer Sam winked at Lennox and Epps, because they all knew that the 'car' was far more important. “and replacing my car? You guys really didn't have to do that”

“Yes we did Sam, and we can't take it back so don't even try.” Will mock scolded, “You should be proud of what you did that day Sam, and the fellow who donated that car feels the same way we do. Not everyone would have done what you did during that battle, you showed clear bravery, quick decision making, and the determination to complete the mission. You may not be a soldier, but I'm glad that I've had a chance to serve with you.”

Both Lennox and Epps snapped off salutes, and Sam grinned back. They'd managed to come up with an excuse for the return of Bee in such a way that even his father couldn't say no.  
“So...” Epps spoke up with his own grin, “You want to take it for a spin? Secretary Keller and the donor made sure that everything is taken care of, title, registration and even insurance for the next five years. Just be careful, he really wants to run.”

While it was a little tricky while wearing his compression gloves and splints, Sam managed to open up the velvet box to find a single key on a very custom keychain, the fob was a thick disk with the Autobot's logo on one side and a stylized Bumblebee on the other. Around the edge there were Cybertronian characters. As Sam touched it he felt a tingling sensation through his gloved fingertips, that told him that this was more than a simple keychain. At his raised eyebrow he saw Will give a slight nod in the direction of the driveway. Apparently Bee would explain more.

“May I Mom?” Sam asked.

“Well... I don't see why not, but I think it would be best if you were home before your father gets here. So be home by 4:30 okay?”

“Thanks Mom, I'll be home then.” Sam said as he eagerly turned and bounded toward the door.

“Well Mrs. Witwicky, I guess that's our signal to head back to base as well. Thank you for your hospitality. Sam's a very brave young man and he earned the respect of our unit. I'm sure we'll stay in touch.”

Shaking hands in farewell Judy smiled, “Captain Lennox, you and your men are welcome anytime. I'll let you know how things go with Ron, sometimes he can be stubborn about the strangest things.”

“Just give us a call if you need help convincing him.” Epps replied.

\---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---

Sam bounced down the steps and across the yard to the gleaming yellow and black Camaro. “Hey Bee.” Sam said quietly as he brushed his hand across the hood. Even through his compression gloves he felt a static like tingle, similar to what he felt with the keychain, pass from his hand up through his arm. It wasn't uncomfortable, and Sam was a little surprised to hear an 'all clear/no damage' response from Sparky. Sam was quickly in the driver's seat seat-belt fastened and his hands resting on the steering wheel ready to 'act' as Bee's driver.

“Let's go up to the lookout, it should be pretty quiet today and Mom wants me back home by 4:30 so I'm here when Dad gets home.”

Bumblebee's engine turned over and revved a little before Bee pulled out of the driveway. Not being in a hurry Sam relaxed into the driver's seat as Bee searched through the radio stations, stopping on one that was playing a good upbeat 'driving' song which made Sam smile. Traffic was light and they made good time, getting to the lookout in about twenty minutes. The site was empty since not many people came out here in the middle of the day. They parked and Sam rolled down the windows, but made no move to get out of Bee's cabin. Instead he slouched down, relaxing deeper into the comfortable leather seats and sighed. Bee listened intently as Sam began speaking in a quiet but serious voice.

“Bee, when I was in the hospital the doctors had me work with a psychiatrist to help me get over the trauma and stress from the battle in Mission City. I didn't want to at first and it took about a week of sessions with Dr. Hutchins to show me that it was doing any good. I found that they really helped me put that day in perspective, and while I do still get an occasional nightmare where Megatron is a central figure, they don't keep me up all night like they did during the first few weeks.

“Dr. Hutchins taught me a technique called 'guided meditation'. Part of that technique is to create a 'safe place' within your mind, a place where you could visualize yourself and you'd know that nothing bad could get to you, that you'd be protected, and nothing could hurt you. My visualization was this, me sitting right here in this seat, surrounded by you, looking out over everything. This is what I would assemble in my mind as my 'safe place' when we were working through the worst of my trauma and fears. So, even though you couldn't be with me physically when I was recovering, I want you to know that you've been in my thoughts everyday, providing an anchor so I can work through the mental part of my recovery. Thank you Bee.”

Bee chirped through the radio. His voice had been repaired through his contact with the Allspark, but he'd been relying on recorded sound bites, noises and other forms of communication for so many vorns that speaking with his own voice felt odd. However, Sam's comment deserved recognition so Bee directed his reply through the radio, keeping with Sam's quiet serious tone.  
“I should be thanking you Sam. At the end of the battle you could have refused my request to Optimus and sent me away. Now you tell me that I was a vital part of your recovery even without being anywhere nearby and you've reminded me again about how amazing your species is. As Optimus says 'humans are a young species', but you are one I fully believe in defending with every pulse of my spark. It makes me feel doubly honored that you would consider me as a guardian of your thoughts even when I couldn't be physically present.”

They sat for a while, just enjoying the comfortable presence of each other. Bee scrolled through the radio stations, playing a variety of music, while Sam let his mind drift and considered telling Bee about the presence of the Allspark. Sam knew that he would have to say something eventually, but it felt too soon. Today was for him and Bee to reconnect as friends, the news that he was sharing his body with the recovering Allspark could wait.

\---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---

Sam and Bee returned to the Witwicky residence just after 4 p.m. On the way back Bee let Sam know that the fob on his keychain was a special tracking beacon which if he activated, by squeezing it firmly until it beeped, would let the Autobots track him. Sam asked about it's security and Bee let him know that it only transmitted a signal when it was active and only Optimus' team knew the frequency.

Letting his Mom know he was home, Sam sat on the front porch, mentally preparing himself to deal with his father. Hopefully he would be able to intercept Ron before he pulled too far into the driveway and saw Bee. After a little while his Mom came out to join him on the porch, carrying a tray with two ice filled glasses and a pitcher of iced tea.

“Don't worry too much about how your father reacts to seeing your new car Sam. I'll make sure he doesn't do anything foolish, like try and force you to return it to Captain Lennox and Sergeant Epps. He'll probably bluster and yell for a while, but it's only because he's still processing everything that surrounded the attack that put you in the hospital.” Judy said as she poured a glass and offered it to Sam who accepted it gratefully. Judy sighed as she sat down next to him on the top step. “I'm afraid that, for some reason, Ron blames himself for your injuries. The other day I heard him while he was working in the garage and he was saying things like 'If only I hadn't gotten Sam that car.' I tried talking with him, but he isn't ready to deal with it all yet.  
“I think its because everything happened so quickly, and we weren't able to protect you like a parent feels they ought to. When those men in suits took you and Mikaela and separated us I was terrified and your father was too. Then to find out that you'd been caught in that attack in Mission City and had been injured... I've never seen your father fall to pieces like he did when Captain Lennox contacted us to tell that you were in that military hospital.”

Sam took a drink before he asked, “Mom, why are you doing so well with all of this?”

“Well honey, when you were in the hospital and I first came there, you spent a lot of your time asleep. So, I got to know quite a few of the staff and the other patients. I spoke with Will and Bobbie every time they visited and I got to know a couple other members of their unit. I also took them up on one of their suggestions to have a few sessions with one of the hospital psychiatrists which really helped me get past the guilt and fear.  
“I've been trying to encourage your father to schedule something, but he's terribly stubborn about it, I'm sure that he's also afraid that if he sees a psychiatrist about this that the family history about Grandpa Archie will come up and they'll 'ship him off to the loony bin'.”

“No Mom, they wouldn't. Dr. Hutchins already knows about Grandpa Archie and he didn't lock me away. Maybe I should ask for a follow up visit and take Dad along.”

“That might work, but I think it would be easier if we schedule a series of appointments and make sure that Dr. Hutchins asks us to attend several 'family' sessions. Then maybe your father will see that there's some benefit to it.”

“Sure, I can do that.”

“So... How's the car?” Judy asked brightly.

“Bee's great!” Sam began enthusiastically and then paused as his mind registered on what he just said.

“Bee?”

“Uh, yeah... I named him Bumblebee, or Bee for short. I mean with that paint job he kind of looks like a bee, right?” Sam hurried to explain.

Judy looked at the bright yellow and black car with a critical eye before she answered, “Yes, I guess it does.”

“And see? The keychain that Will gave me has this stylized bee on it. So, I thought it was best.”

Sam dug his new keychain out of his pocket and handed it to his Mom. Judy held it and noticed that it was slightly heavier than she was expecting, she also noticed that Sam had already moved his house keys over to it. She flipped it from side to side examining the pictures and symbols on it. “What's this symbol?” she asked showing the Autobot sigil.

“I think it's some kind of trademark for the shop that customized Bee or something. He's got one in the center of his steering wheel as well.”

Looking at the keychain again Judy Witwicky also saw the line of strange script which ran around the edge of the medallion. She recognized some of the figures from the notebooks that Ron had kept in the attic, notebooks that had once belonged to Grandpa Archie. Judy peered over at the bright yellow and black Camaro which sat gleaming innocently in the driveway. Standing up she wandered over to the car and walked all the way around it, and brushed her fingers across the slick surface. It felt a little odd under her fingers, but not in a way that made her wish she'd grabbed her bat before she approached what she was fairly certain was far more than an ordinary, albeit exclusive new car.

If there was one thing that Judy Witwicky possessed as a natural talent, beyond her abilities of being a strong wife and a fierce mother, it was her uncanny ability to be mistaken for a flighty, gossiping housewife. One who spent her free time reading trashy romance novels and sipping sangrias while relaxing on a patio straight out of Home and Garden. This often led to the people around her severely underestimating her intelligence, intuition, memory and observational skills. Judy had long since learned that people would let information slip around her, because she didn't register to them as a threat, unless she was wielding her Louisville Slugger. Judy always felt that if she'd been given the opportunity, or if she'd chosen a different career path, she could have made an excellent spy or espionage agent. Judy had always listened to her intuition, and remembering some of the half-whispered and overheard conversations from the weeks spent at the military hospital with Sam, along with adding in the marks and symbols from Sam's new keychain, had alarm bells ringing inside Judy's head. However, right now was not the time to confront Sam with her suspicions, not when they had to deal with Ron and convince the rather bull-headed older Witwicky that Sam needed to keep the Camaro. Judy could be patient about this since the car didn't give her any feelings of danger, but she would certainly be speaking with Sam about it in the next couple of days.

\---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---

Thankfully, it didn't take much to convince Ron that the new Camaro was a gift presented to Sam in recognition of his heroism in Mission City. Sam made a big fuss about showing him the letter of commendation and all of the paperwork proving that the new Camaro was really his. Judy made Ron's favorite dinner and pointed out repeatedly how Ron was being stubborn and silly about the whole thing, and that she'd been there when Captain Lennox and Sergeant Epps had made the presentation to Sam. By the time dessert was served Ron had grudgingly accepted that the shiny new car was there to stay.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Need to say a bit here about how Cybertronians measure time. Only two terms defining a period of time are acceptably defined within the Transformer's Universe cannon (I'm talking way back to the first generation cartoon here folks!). 
> 
> Defined Units:
> 
> breem – a span of time equal to 8.3 Earth minutes (500 seconds).  
> The breem is interpreted by most sources to be the Cybertronian minute.
> 
> vorn – a span of time equal to 83 Earth years.  
> The vorn is interpreted by most sources to be the Cybertronian year.
> 
> \--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--

Ron walked around the bright yellow car sitting in his driveway. In the early morning light it glimmered and shone with the glossy highlights of a showroom shine he'd never seen on anything outside of an auto show, and it was sitting next to his house and was owned by his son. His son who he would gladly sacrifice himself for and who was growing into a fine young man. The events at the end of the school year had shaken him and made Ron realize that he couldn't always be in a position to defend his family against the dangers of the world. He'd always thought of himself as a good father. He worked hard as an accountant so that he could support his family well. He'd always felt fortunate that he'd been able to combine his love of economics and his appreciation of fine automobiles into a very successful career. While Ron was a senior accountant in one of the branches of a national accountancy firm, a large part of his client base was made up of car dealerships, garages, parts stores and junkyards. His coworkers all agreed that Ron had an amazing rapport with the often eccentric owners of the smaller garages, junkyards and dealerships and that the large number of small clients that he'd brought into the firm helped all of them become one of the more successful accountancy firms in the city. It was because of his contacts in the auto industry that Ron was having a problem believing the line that was being fed to him by the government.

While they had been told that Sam had been injured when his escort home from being interrogated was caught in the terrorist attack that fell on Mission City, Ron didn't quite believe it. There were parts of that whole affair that still bothered him, like why had Sam been taken so far away from home for questioning? How could a single police report, that was being treated locally as no more than an elaborate prank by a teen with a too vivid imagination, manage to make Sam a 'person of interest' with the shadier side of the government? Then there was the one question which bothered Ron the most, how did Sam's Camaro even end up in Mission City? Last he'd known the old car was left parked in the alley behind the house when they were taken in for interrogation by that freaky Agent Simmons. There had been no tow trucks in the street when they were loaded into the black SUV's and driven off into the night. The little voice of logic in the back of his head reminded him that they could have brought one in later, and Ron had to grudgingly agree that that was probably what happened. However that still didn't explain why the Camaro had been shipped off to Mission City. There was a garage in town that was contracted to help the feds investigate cars that were seized, so there had been no reason to ship the car that far away.

Moving to his own car, Ron let his own thoughts churn over all the mysteries that still surrounded that weekend. When he had returned to work, explaining his absence as a family emergency, he'd contacted several of his clients in an effort to try and quiet the voices in his head that had him jumping at shadows. Beyond the fact that whatever had happened in Mission City had injured Sam badly Ron held a real fear that some doctor would commit his son to a psych ward and he'd never see his boy again. Ron attempted to bury himself in his work to keep his mind off of his fears, but some of the things that his clients brought up kept his mind from settling back into any kind of routine. Just after that weekend when he stopped at the local Pontiac dealership he'd found them working with an insurance adjuster to make a claim on what was being considered vandalism damage. A couple of the neon letters on the roof had been crushed and there was some odd impact damage to the asphalt in front of the showroom windows. From the insurance adjuster Ron had heard that there were several other sites in the city that were making damage claims from the apparent meteor shower which had occurred on Saturday night. When he had looked again at the impact mark on the asphalt, Ron was struck with the knowledge that he'd seen marks like that earlier that day in his own yard, but he'd kept quiet about it. Then there was the scene he'd found when he had visited one of the local junkyards. the yard's flatbed tow truck was just pulling in with the remains of a black SUV strapped down to it. The front end of the wreck had been punched in like it had impacted a telephone pole or a bridge support, and the roof looked like it had been peeled away. The driver of the tow truck had rather gleefully pointed out the crush marks on the roof that looked like giant fingerprints and offered his opinion that the SUV had first crashed into something and then had been lifted off the ground by the roof, and then when the roof supports had given way it had dropped to the ground trashing the suspension. Ron had smiled and nodded at the explanation and filed the information away with the rest of the strange things that had happened that weekend.

Taking a last look at the bright yellow car that sat in his driveway, Ron focused on his own driving as he started the engine and began his drive to work. He'd have to ask a few of his dealer friends if they had heard of any of the Mission City dealerships getting their hands on the concept car that now belonged to Sam. While he had no plans on forcing Sam to return the car Ron knew that he'd feel better if he had some kind of idea about where it came from and who might have felt so indebted to Sam that they thought it was appropriate to replace the old Camaro with a very shiny new one.

\---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---

It was very early on the Saturday morning after Bumblebee returned to the Witwicky's driveway that he was pulled out of his recharge cycle by someone taping on his driver-side door. Bringing all of his active sensors on-line Bee quickly recognized Judy Witwicky standing calmly at the edge of the pavement, but holding her favorite bat in a two handed grip. At first Bumblebee thought that Mrs. Witwicky was investigating the noise that had occurred a breem earlier, which was caused by a raccoon knocking over the neighbor's garbage can. Then she tapped him firmly on his door with her Louisville Slugger and spoke.

“Wake up, and let me in. I need a word with you.” she said in a voice that immediately let Bee know that there would be severe consequences if he ignored her.  
Bee was so startled at being addressed directly that he let off a squawk of sound and flashed his headlights, but he kept his doors closed and locked.

“Oh for Pete's sake! Quit being so stubborn! If I was going to have a problem with you being here I never would have let Captain Lennox and Sergeant Epps leave you here for Sam!” Judy spoke firmly but quietly and Bee was quick to pop the door open after he heard what she had to say. Judy slid into the driver's seat, put her bat on the passenger side floor and reached for the seat-belt. After she fastened the buckle she put her hands lightly on the wheel.

“Okay, let's go up to the lookout, all the kids should be home by now and I don't want the neighbors wondering about what I'm doing talking to myself while sitting in the front seat of my son's car. I also want you to show me just what you are, because I already know that you are not just a simple machine.”

Hearing the determination in Judy's voice, Bee rolled silently out of the driveway. Once on the street he quietly started his engine while Judy skillfully directed him to the lookout. They parked at the thankfully deserted site near a picnic table, and Judy climbed out of Bee's interior taking her bat with her. She stepped back a few feet and looked at him intently. She let the silence build for a few minutes before sighing in exasperation. “Well, since I started this conversation I guess it's my place to tell you what I've been able to figure out. Then you can tell me if I'm right or not, and just how my son got involved with you.”

Bee gave out an electronic chirp and blinked his turn signals, hoping that Mrs. Witwicky would understand his agreement, and continue with her part.

“Alright,” Judy said with a nod, “now I already know that whatever we discuss is probably classified, top secret, need to know, eyes only, or whatever high security label they're giving this kind of information these days. However, Sam was in that military hospital for six weeks, and the attack on Mission City, and the injuries sustained during it were the prime topics of conversation for everyone who worked there. I couldn't help but hear what was discussed in the hallways and break rooms. I also noticed that since it was a military hospital that everyone there kind of assumed that everyone else was in the know.

“So, while I was there I kept hearing the doctors, nurses, orderlies and some of the patients talking about how the attack that destroyed the base in Qatar, and the attack in Mission City were caused by the same opponents and the main reason that Mission City wasn't a complete disaster was because of the military gaining some allies who gave them a better chance. Then I heard one of Sam's doctors comment about the bruising he had on his body, let me see if I can remember just what he said... Ah yes, the doctor said, 'Well, I'm surprised it's not worse, he was caught after falling off the top of a building in the hand of a forty foot tall robot.'

“Also, before Sam started seeing Dr. Hutchins he had horrible, vivid nightmares of what went on during the Mission City attack and he would yell out names, 'Bee' was one of the names he called out, and I could tell that Sam was full of concern for whoever this 'Bee' was.

“Now, Sam's always been a good judge of character when it comes to his friends and the people he trusts. I've never had to tell him that I didn't approve of his choices on who he associated with. So, unless you give me a reason, or start abusing Sam's friendship and trust, I'm going to try to approach this like I would approach any new friend of Sam's and put my trust in his good judgement.

“So Bumblebee, would you please introduce yourself and, if you can, tell me a little about how and why you made contact with my son?”

Bee shifted a little on his springs, he certainly hadn't expected to be discovered by Sam's female parental unit this quickly, although he also realized that it would be far too much to hope that they never found out about him. Before he had returned to the Witwicky's he had received permission from Optimus Prime to disclose his presence to Ron and Judy if it ever came up, but he was still surprised by Judy Witwicky's quick action. Running a quick scan to make sure that they were alone and rolling back a little, to make sure he had enough room, Bee triggered his transformation sequence and stood up in front of the Witwicky matriarch.

Judy's hand came up to cover her mouth as she gaped in astonishment. She stared wide-eyed as the Camaro split apart in a dance of whirling metal and gears to become a sixteen foot tall robot with bright blue eyes. One of her first thoughts was that as a robot the Camaro was even a better match to its name, the doors looking very much like wings as they stuck out from the robot's shoulders. Blinking a few times to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks Judy whispered in awe, “Oh... wow... that's impressive.”

Bee preened a little at the sound of admiration in her voice before speaking softly, “Thank you Mrs. Witwicky. I'm Autobot Scout Bumblebee. I've been assigned to act as Sam's guardian, and to protect him and his family from any retaliation our enemies may attempt as a consequence of Sam's actions during the battle at Mission City. My people owe Sam such a debt of gratitude for his bravery and the actions he took during that conflict that we may never be able to fully repay it. Our leader, Optimus Prime, has said that our continued protection of your family is the least we can do.”

“Just a moment, what kind of danger are we in?” Judy asked sharply as Bumblebee's words caused her temper to rise.

“Mrs. Witwicky, if you'll give me a moment, I do plan on giving you what information I can. It should answer many of your questions.” Bumblebee said in a calm voice while gesturing in a calming fashion.

Judy settled down, taking a seat at the nearby picnic table and calming herself with several slow breaths before nodding, “Okay, I'm listening.”

Bumblebee spent the next hour explaining to Judy what the Autobots were, where they came from, why they came to Earth and how Archibald Witwicky's Arctic explorations and discoveries he made had tied the Witwicky family to the Autobots. He spoke about the civil war between the Autobots and the Decepticons and the battles which had led to Prime's decision to send the Allspark into space. He told how Megatron had abandoned his troops to pursue the artifact across the known universe, to end up eventually crashing in Earth's Arctic circle, while the Allspark had ended up in Nevada. Bee described a little about the fall of Cybertron and the dispersal of the remaining Cybertronians, both Autobot and Decepticon into space to search for the Allspark. He explained their hopes that with the Allspark they could revive their planet and make it capable of sustaining life once more. Finally he told of his own time on Earth, his search for the location of the Allspark, his discovery of the Witwicky's connection and what he had done to be 'chosen' by Sam.

“So, you were also that old beat up car?” Judy asked with curiosity.

“Correct, I found that it was easier for me to 'hide in plain sight' if I copied older, less well maintained vehicles.” Bee agreed.

Judy nodded in understanding, “Okay, I know that when Captain Lennox and Sergeant Epps brought you by that they made sure that we had a title, proof of insurance and registration for a 2009 Camaro, but do those papers mean that Sam 'owns' you? Because I've always felt that no one should 'own' anyone else like some kind of possession.”

“While I agree with your beliefs Mrs. Witwicky, in fact most Autobots would agree with your beliefs, it has been our experience that until our existence is known and widely recognized, organic based societies such as those found on Earth rarely have laws or traditions in place to even conceive that technologically based life such as myself could be sentient. Right now Optimus Prime is working on several treaties with the United States government that will allow us the right to set up a Cybertronian Consulate and give us an area of land where we can build a permanent base of operations. The base will provide us with a place for a repair bay, science labs, administration and communications offices as well as space for housing and training facilities. Optimus has found that once we can establish a working relationship through a Consulate arrangement it opens lines of negotiation that lead to the most satisfactory results in establishing the recognition of Cybertronians as a life form.

“You should know that this is not the first time that Optimus has helped an organic based society broaden their definition of what can be considered sentient, and even if it takes many of your years Optimus is committed to succeed in this. If in the meantime I need to have my alt-form registered as an Earth vehicle and 'belong' to a human, then this is what I will do. I realize that my explanation of our departure from Cybertron may have made it sound as if we all fled in great haste, and to us it felt like it, however our search for the Allspark, and our travels have been going on for almost a kilovorn, which is approximately 83,000 of your years. Even with all our technology it takes a long time to cross the distances between the stars Mrs. Witwicky.” Bumblebee explained as he saw the look on Judy's face as she began to realize just how alien the being before her was.

Judy nodded, she was starting to understand that it was probably a good thing that the Autobots were keeping a low profile for now. Especially when her mind started to consider the 'flavor' of the majority of the popular opinion about aliens from outer space. If the current movies were anything to go from, then most of the people on the planet would look at an alien race with advanced technology as a threat, to be dealt with through force in an effort to keep the invaders from subjugating the human race. The subtle approach that the Autobots were taking would cause the least amount of panic in the general public. Once she reached this conclusion she looked up at Bumblebee's fascinating, glowing blue eyes and made her final request for this exchange. “Okay, now I would like you to tell me what happened to put Sam in that hospital. As his mother I need to know. I'm not going to blame you for whatever happened, Sam is nearly an adult and I trust that he made the best decision he could at the time, given whatever information he had. What was done in the past is done. Now we have to accept what happened and whatever changes need to be made, and I can't do that without knowing what happened.”

Bumblebee nodded and told Mrs. Witwicky all he knew about what had happened. He started back where he'd been 'sold' to Sam for four thousand dollars and stopped when he got to the point of Sam being taken to the military hospital in the back of an ambulance. Bee didn't hold back any information, but he tried to couch his language like he would a report to a superior officer. He didn't get emotional and he kept his opinions to himself, although he did express some pride at Sam's actions and he let Judy know that all of the Autobots were very impressed with how well Sam had managed to evade the Decepticons on the battlefield.

The sun had risen fully by the time Bumblebee had finished his tale and Judy was contemplatively quiet as she absorbed what the Autobot had said. Bee shifted back into his Camaro form, and swung the driver's door open. Judy slid easily behind the wheel and set her bat back on the passenger side floor. She fastened her safety belt and rested her hands on the wheel.

“We better get home. Ron will be up soon, and I'd like to be there before he decides that chocolate cake is a good breakfast.” Judy said as she touched her feet to the pedals, which Bee took as an indication to begin driving. He chuckled through the radio as he began to drive them back.

As they pulled into the driveway Judy spoke again, “Bumblebee, I want you to promise that you'll do your best to protect and be a friend to Sam. I know that we can't wrap him in bubble wrap, or lock him away from all the dangers in the world. I also understand that associating with you and the other Autobots, not to mention Captain Lennox and his team, will expose him to things that I can't even begin to imagine, but I will feel better about this if I can have your word that you'll look after my son.”

“Mrs. Witwicky, I am charged to be Sam's guardian, and while it is my duty to do just as you ask, it is also my pleasure to watch over your son who is an amazing young man.” Bee answered solemnly.

Judy got out of the Camaro and gave the hood a gentle pat before going back into the house to start breakfast. She could tell that this was only the beginning of what she hoped would be an amazing adventure. Watching Sam's Camaro unfold into a highly intricate, sixteen foot tall, robot was nothing short of awe inspiring. Add to that the fact that Bumblebee was, by his own admission, only a representative of one of the shorter models of Cybertronian, and Judy had chills. She was filled by feelings of both anticipation and fear for the future of something that the Witwicky family had been involved with ever since Great Grandfather Archibald had dragged his ship of eager explorers up to the Arctic Circle.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ::Words Words Words:: = Electronic/Radio Communications.
> 
> Cybertronian Time Units:
> 
> Breem = Cybertronian 'Minute' (500 Earth Seconds = 8.3 Minutes)
> 
> Joor = Cybertronian Deckabreem or 'Hour' (5000 Earth Seconds = 83 Minutes)
> 
> \--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--^^--

Miles Lancaster was positive something strange was going on, and that it had started shortly after Sam had gotten that used Camaro. Just about everything could be traced back to that weekend where Sam had abandoned him at the lake to make the latest in his series of attempts to make Mikaela Banes notice his existence. Now Miles had long since forgiven Sam for leaving him, Sam had called him late that night to provide all the details of taking Mikaela home and apologize for kicking him out of his ride. Then there was the strange panicky call that Miles had gotten on Saturday while he was washing Milo where Sam had dubbed his car “Satan's Camaro” and claimed that it was stalking him. After Sam hung up Miles began to wonder if Sam was setting him up for a huge practical joke, but he didn't let it bother him too much. Sam had been his best friend since before kindergarten and Miles was confident that he would know what was up eventually.

Miles had been extremely surprised when a slightly battered looking Mikaela had called out to him after school on the following Tuesday, and had then proceeded to tell him that Sam was in the hospital recovering from injuries sustained during the Mission City Terrorist Attack. When Miles asked how Sam had gotten involved with that, Mikaela had muttered something about Sam's car and National Security. She then asked if he would help her talk to Sam's teachers and collect his daily assignments to deliver to Mrs. Witwicky. Apparently Sam was only allowed limited visitors while he was in the burn ward because of the injuries to his hands. Miles agreed and every day they collected the assignments and delivered them to Sam's house. Usually it was Mr. Witwicky who would take the new homework and hand over Sam's completed work since Mrs. Witwicky was spending as much time at Sam's side as his Doctors would allow.

As the school year wound down and it looked like Sam would finish his junior year from his hospital bed, Miles and Mikaela were discovering that they had quite a lot in common. They both enjoyed fixing things, Miles liked working with electronics, and was a decent programmer, where Mikaela was definitely a gearhead mechanic. Miles also noticed pretty quickly that without Trent and his meathead brigade, Mikaela was much less of an “Evil Jock Concubine”. Sure, she still had friends among the cheerleaders, but she was starting to loosen up around Miles who was genuinely interested in her for more than her looks and didn't make a fuss when she knew more about how something worked than he did.

When Sam came home things sort of got back to normal, Miles and Sam hung out together and Miles teased Sam a little about his new 'fashion accessories' until Sam explained exactly why he had to wear the splints and gloves that covered his arms from fingertips to just above his elbows. Sam had also shown Miles the scars that he would always carry as his personal reminder of Mission City and Miles then knew that his best buddy's life had been changed forever in a day, simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Sam who came out of the hospital was much more dedicated to his education and thought about the consequences of his actions. If Miles had to use one word to describe Sam before Mission City he would have said “impulsive”, after that weekend he would have said “contemplative”. Miles also noticed that Sam was much calmer, but that didn't mean that Miles couldn't convince Sam to have fun and goof off from time to time.

Surprisingly, Sam was also okay with the growing friendship between Miles and Mikaela, and the three of them would hang out whenever Mikaela and Miles could get away from their summer jobs. Miles was working for his Uncle doing landscaping, and Mikaela had snagged a job at the cycle shop where she had purchased her Vespa scooter. Before Mission City, Sam had been planning on joining Miles, and had even filled out the paperwork, but the injuries to his hands made landscaping work impossible. However, Miles' Uncle had said that he'd be open to hiring Sam whenever his doctors gave him the all clear to do mowing and such.

Miles was truly impressed when Sam stopped by driving a sizzling hot concept Camaro, and then proceeded to tell him that the car was a replacement for the 1976 Camaro that had gotten trashed in the Mission City Attack. When Miles pressed about who it was from, Sam showed him the signed certificate from the President and the Department of Defense honoring Sam for what he'd done at Mission City. Miles grumbled a bit, wishing he hadn't been left behind, and Sam held up his still gloved arms as a reminder of what could have been. Miles quickly apologized for his comments and they headed over to Mikaela's house to pick her up. After giving the new Camaro a once over she joined them and they spent the evening cruising around enjoying all the complements shouted their way.

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If Sam had to choose one thing to complain about during his recovery it was the fact that his arms were covered from fingertip to just above his elbows with “compression garments” and that the elastic fabric was dreadfully hot during the summer. Twice a day he peeled the long gloves from his arms so that he could cool off, apply the lotions that Dr. Martin had prescribed to him and switch them out for a clean pair. His bathroom looked like some kind of strange laundry, pairs of the flesh toned gloves were draped over the towel bar and the shower curtain rod so that they could dry after Sam rinsed them in the sink. At least his parents hadn't had to worry about how to pay for the several extra pairs of custom fit gloves, all of his medical expenses were being covered by the government. So, if Sam wanted several extra pairs of gloves then Uncle Sam would spring for them. Looking down at his hands Sam saw that the scars were looking more and more like the flames on Optimus' paint job, feathering around the edges of his palms and crawling up his lower arms. Compared to the paler undamaged skin the 'flames' were marked in pink and a deeper red. Turning his hands over Sam looked at his palms, branded into the skin were the patterns of whorls and symbols that had adorned the surface of the Allspark. Dr. Martin couldn't explain why the symbols had returned even after the skin graft surgery and it had taken quite a bit of fast talking on Sam's part to reassure his Mom that the strange marks didn't bother him and didn't cause him any pain. He also reminded her that Dr. Martin had told them that he would have to wait at least two years before they even thought of having any cosmetic changes done. That had finally soothed Judy's fury, but she had made Sam promise that if they started to bother him that he would let her know immediately. It had taken Sam a while to learn how to do everyday things while constantly wearing gloves, and to not get them completely filthy in only a couple of hours. Even now several pairs had mustard stains on them from eating at the food courts when he had been out with Miles and Mikaela.

Today Sam was planning on spending some time out at the lookout and hoped that he could find a secluded location that would let Bee stretch out from his alt mode and allow them to talk face to face. After letting his Mom know where he planned on going, promising to be back before curfew and to keep his cell phone on, Sam loaded up a backpack with a picnic lunch and a few other things before walking out to the driveway and hopping into the bright yellow Camaro.

“Hey Bee, I was thinking of trying to find you someplace where you can shift out of your alt mode for a while, and maybe going up to the lookout for a couple of hours. Do you have any suggestions?”

The radio chirped happily as they rolled out of the driveway. After driving towards the outskirts of town for a few minutes Bee turned onto a small side road that quickly turned to dirt. They traveled for about another mile or so before coming to an overgrown clearing where there was a tumbled down house and a half collapsed barn. There was no sign of anyone being here for years, but Sam was still cautious as he got out of Bee. If there hadn't been any people here then there could easily be things like rattlesnakes and other critters using the ruined structures as shelter.

“Do I have to worry about rattlesnakes here?” Sam asked Bee as he stepped gingerly away, giving the mech enough room to transform if he chose.

In response, Sam felt a wave of energy wash over him and saw the tall grass ripple away from Bee. Sparky quickly let Sam know that Bumblebee had released a sub sonic pulse into the ground. Sam turned to Bee, “What did you just do? I felt something...”

Sam heard the distinctive sound that indicated the beginning of the Cybertronian's transformation sequence, and watched as Bumblebee's frame split, whirled and came back together as his robot form. Sam grinned, seeing that would never get old for him, and he felt Sparky agree. Bee then took a seat on the ground and faced Sam, “Low frequency pulse, it will repel snakes and other pests for the next few hours, but it won't hurt them.” Bee's voice was soft and still had a touch of static in it. “How is your recovery going?”

“Good, the burns are still healing,” Sam said as he held up his gloved arms, “but everything else is pretty much back to normal.”

“Ratchet has asked if you would let him examine you. He'd like to personally collect more data about organic healing processes. He's already made a few studies of members of Captain Lennox's team and he has surveyed the resources available, but he has noticed that there is considerable variability between humans and he feels that he will be more useful if he broadens his experience.”

“He would notice that. Healing rates can vary quite a bit depending on what kind of care the injured person receives and what kind of shape they are in before an injury. I guess I can let him examine me, but we'll have to arrange it for sometime when I can be away from home for a while.”

“It shouldn't take long, I could have him stop by here today?”

“Not today Bee, today is just for us. I want to give you a chance to ask any questions you have, and I want to hear about what's been going on with the others.”  
Bee leaned forward and reached out to Sam with tentative fingers, “May I see your hands?”

“Sure,” Sam agreed with a shrug and began to loosen the straps on his splints, “let me get the gloves off. The burns still look pretty red, but Dr. Martin told me that sometimes it can take up to a year for burns to look more like normal skin, so they'll fade over time.”

Sam gently peeled off the tight fitting gloves, revealing the scarred skin underneath. He folded up the gloves and put them in his bag before extending his hands to Bee. Sam could hear the clicking and whirring of Bumblebee's optics as the wounds were closely scrutinized. Bee's fingers twitched nervously and Sam was reminded of the scout's approach when he had first been in the presence of the Allspark under Hoover Dam. Ever so gently, Sam felt the touch of cool metal digits as Bee took Sam's hands into his own. At the moment Bee's grasp firmed under Sam's hands, Sam felt a twisting mental lurch which made him gasp and close his eyes as the world appeared to whirl around him. Sam stumbled as his body tried to correct for the perceived motion and Bee automatically caught him before he slumped bonelessly to the ground. The increased contact with Sam caused a shock of energy to wash through his systems and Bee's optics flickered. Bumblebee suddenly felt like he was split between two places, part of him was aware of sitting in the overgrown yard of an abandoned farmstead, yet another part of him felt like he was standing somewhere that bore a strong resemblance to the Lookout where he had held his discussion with Judy Witwicky. Sam was with him in both places, but in his perception of the Lookout there was an additional presence. Focusing his attention on the Lookout the third presence became clearer and Sam appeared to be awake. Bumblebee quickly set up some monitoring programs to stand watch over his awareness at the farmstead and shifted more of his attention to the 'Lookout'.

“Huh,” Sam muttered looking around, before focusing on the small spinning cube that was suspended in the space between Sam's outstretched arms and his own hands, “this is new.”

“Sam?”

“Sorry Bee, I didn't mean to drag you here, but I guess Sparky decided it was time for you to know about its presence.” Sam said apologetically while giving a nod to the spinning cube.

“Sam, where is here? My sensors are trying to tell me that I'm in two places at once. I've felt like this before, when I'm scouting computer systems for information I'll often split off a part of my awareness to make a more efficient search of a network, but I've never split myself to this degree.”

“Well, I guess in a way you really are in two places at once this time. This 'Lookout' is actually inside my mind. Remember that I told you about how Dr. Hutchins helped me get through the trauma of Mission City by working with guided meditation and developing a 'safe place'? This is my safe place, I think we can put the blame on Sparky for pulling you in here though.”

“This is inside your head?”

“Yep, you understand the concept of a virtual or visual construct, right?”

Bee nodded.

“That's what this is, it is a visual construct that I created inside my mind as a place where I felt safe enough to talk and discuss what had happened at Mission City and face all the fears caused by the Decepticon attacks. It was also where I discovered Sparky was traveling along inside me.”

“Sparky?”

Sam nodded towards the spinning cube, “Sparky's the name I gave to the cube. Bee, the Allspark wasn't destroyed at Mission City. It used an emergency protocol to send a compressed version of itself into me before using the majority of its energy to destroy Megatron. I discovered its presence while I was in the hospital and we've been building ways to communicate.”

Bee's optics focused on the spinning cube between them, “This is the Allspark?”

“Yes, if you look closely you'll see the symbols on its faces. It's almost half again as large as it was when I first discovered it hitching a ride in my safe place, but it is still too small and fragile to survive outside of my body.”

“Sam, the Allspark is a powerful artifact yes, but you're ascribing characteristics to it as if it is alive.”

Sam chuckled, “Bee, if I'm talking about Sparky as if it's alive, then don't you think I would have found some proof of that?”

Bee hesitated and shuttered his optics, he really wanted to trust Sam, but this seemed a little far fetched. Nothing from his history archive could substantiate what Sam was telling him and his people had studied the Allspark for megavorns before it had been sent into space to save it from the advancing Decepticon forces. Then Bee felt it, a light probe against his firewalls that felt like a remembered caress from one of his guardians when he was a sparkling. The last time he had experienced anything like it was when he had touched the Allspark under Hoover Dam and it had responded to his command to compact itself. Startled, Bee looked at Sam, who nodded and gave a sad little grin. Bee opened a communications line and directed a query at the cube. The cube flashed and answered, suddenly chattering away in a mix of binary, Cybertronian, English and images. Alongside this sudden flood of sights and sounds Bumblebee was almost swamped under a wave of raw emotions. Over the tumult Bee could hear Sam speaking to the cube.

“Take it easy Sparky, give Bee a chance to learn your 'cube-speak' before you bombard him with questions or rip him a new one.” Sam said with a chuckle.

The torrent of data pouring out of the tiny cube slowed and Bumblebee was finally able to catch up. Soon they were conversing almost exclusively in the data streams that most Cybertronians used for internal communications as Bee helped Sparky complete the map of associations that it would need to interpret the data files it had accumulated over time. During this Bee also came to the conclusion that Sam was right, and the Allspark was certainly alive and aware. The cube also revealed the plans it had made with Sam to protect its continued existence and convert Sam into a mech. With a shocked look at Sam, Bumblebee asked if what Sparky was telling him was true, and Sam assured the scout that it was and that both he and Sparky had come to an agreement and that their plan was the best bet for providing the cube with the protection it needed while it recovered from the massive expenditure of energy which took down Megatron. Bee asked Sam about what arguments he was planning on using with the others and Sam explained that Sparky's current form really was too fragile and small to survive if it was removed from his body. The cube had adapted to be able to draw energy from Sam's metabolism which also made it very risky to attempt to transfer the recovering cube to another 'host'. The energy it was drawing from Sam wasn't hurting him, it only made Sam slightly hungrier than the average growing teenage boy, and Sparky was slowly rebuilding itself. If they did nothing it would still be about fifteen years before the Allspark could survive on its own. They both knew that was too long of a time for it to be housed in a fragile human body that could easily squished if the Decepticons chose to single him out. So, they had come to the decision that Sparky would use its powers to convert Sam into a mech which would give the cube a safer housing while it recovered. The conversion would also allow Sparky to mask its presence and gain some manner of active defense. The trade off was that it would double the time needed for the cube's recovery and Sam would no longer be human, but the plan also greatly increased the Allspark's overall chances of survival.

Bee questioned both of them thoroughly and found that they had contemplated many of his concerns already and they had still come to the conclusion that this plan was the best hope for future of all Cybertronians. Once he was satisfied with Sam and Sparky's answers to his questions and fully understood their arguments, Bee pledged his support to the plan and agreed to help Sam break the news to the others. Sam was particularly concerned with Ratchet's probable response, but Bee assured them that their arguments were sound, and the fact that they wanted to include Ratchet in the planning and design phases of the conversion would only help gain his acceptance of the plan.

Bee heard his internal alarm chime and he realized that they had spent the entire day conversing in Sam's mental 'safe place' and that it was time to head back to the Witwicky residence or risk being late for Sam's curfew. Once he had pointed this out to Sam, the Allspark released them and they found themselves back at the ruined farmstead. Bee helped Sam stand and steadied him as he regained the feeling in his legs and feet which had 'fallen asleep' from how he had rested on them. Sam's arms also tingled like they were asleep and he fumbled a bit before he was able to replace his long gloves and splints. Walking around the clearing for a few minutes had Sam's blood moving again and after a rather hissed explanation about the sensation of 'pins and needles' and the fact that such sensations were harmless and fairly common in humans who kept their limbs in one position for long periods of time, Bee folded himself into his alt mode and opened the driver's door for Sam to climb in.

During the drive home Bee found that his sensors registered a change in the energy signature that he had recorded for Sam. Realizing that it had developed because of the presence of the Allspark he made sure to update his identification files. Humans in general didn't give off much of a signature unless they were fond of carrying a lot of electronic devices, but Sam's was now stronger than average without him carrying anything and had a decidedly Cybertronian feel, Bee would have to pay attention and make sure that Sam knew that he was now emitting an energy signature that Cybertronians with scout level scanners could detect as being different from other humans. As they arrived at the Witwicky residence Bee pulled into the driveway and parked. Sam got out and ran a gentle hand across Bee's hood as he walked around and headed toward the porch. Bumblebee scanned the area and observed the other residents of the neighborhood for a while before setting up his sensor net to warn him of approaching threats and opening a private comm line to Optimus Prime.

::Yes Bumblebee?:: Optimus' voice rumbled down the connection.

::Sir, we need to figure out some way to have Sam meet with Ratchet. I was able to ask him today and Sam agreed to let Ratchet scan him.::

::Ratchet should be pleased. The scans shouldn't take too long. Shall I have Ratchet stop by?::

::Sir, I've noticed a few things that I think will cause Ratchet to spend a few joors with Sam. I'm concerned because his parents have instituted a curfew and his father is still hesitant at allowing Sam permission to even visit his friend Miles overnight.::

::What have you noticed?::

::Sam's energy signature is now slightly different than other humans. I think it is from his exposure to the Allspark's energies. It's not a great difference, but my own scanners can see it.::

::And if you can see it that would mean that other scout class Cybertronians would be able to see the differences too and Ratchet's medical scanners would light up like stars. In your assessment will this change prove to increase the possibility of any Decepticons stumbling across Sam and becoming a danger?::

::The change is very slight, sir. I didn't register it until Sam was seated inside my alt mode and I focused my scanners on him. If it doesn't change anymore I would say that the risk is low. However, we don't know what effects being exposed to the Allspark's raw energy as he was could have on a human. Additionally, the changes to his signature may respond to his continued interaction with us and that could cause it to increase or change in some other fashion to become more noticeable. I'm not equipped to make any studies that would discover if this is a temporary or sustaining change.::

Optimus hummed thoughtfully down the comm link, ::All the more reason for Sam to see Ratchet. Alright, I'll get to work on figuring out some way of having Sam visit the base for a few days, that should give Ratchet enough time to scan Sam and do whatever other tests he needs to.::

::Thank you sir, Bumblebee out.::


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter occurs on the same day as Chapter 6.
> 
> A lot of talking going on here, but it needs to happen.
> 
> \--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--

It was Saturday, Sam was out and would be gone for several hours. Ron was just putting the final touches on his repairs to the backyard landscaping. Judy was in the kitchen taking a celebratory pan of brownies out of the oven. She let the fudgy treats cool for a few minutes before assembling a tray that had two hot brownie sundaes and two tall glasses of milk on it. Judy carried the food out to the patio table and called Ron out of the garage where he was putting his tools away. Sending him off to get cleaned up in the kitchen she thought about what she was planning on doing. With Sam out for the day Judy figured that today would be as good as any for her to let Ron know exactly what had happened when Sam had been injured at the end of the school year. Setting out the plates and glasses Judy took a moment to arrange her thoughts. There was no easy way of bringing up the subject of giant alien robots in idle conversation, at least not with someone who had the last name of Witwicky. Grandpa Archibald's history had insured that Ron would never simply agree with what she had to tell him, it would be a challenge to even make him consider that it was possible. On the other hand, using that history might be the best way to make Ron listen.

“Ron, what if I were to tell you that Grandpa Archie wasn't crazy?”

Ron chewed his mouthful of brownie and swallowed, “What do you mean? Grandpa Archie lost his mind from his failed expedition to the Arctic. You’ve read his journals which claim that he found some kind of fantastical creature in the Arctic. When he got home the doctors all agreed that he went blind because of the fall and that he went senile because he couldn't adapt to his lack of sight. He spent his last days in an asylum, spouting off about some giant metal ice man he found in a cave that he fell into.”

“I know that's what your family was told Ron, but what if he really had found something? What if his discovery did something to him, causing his blindness and he was thought to be crazy because no one considered that his story might just be true?”

“Judy, what are you talking about?”

“Ron... there was a reason for all that stuff happening this past spring, and it goes all the way back to Grandpa Archie and his expedition to the Arctic. Archibald Witwicky really did find something buried in the ice during that trip. Something both amazing and terrible, the ice man he spoke about was real Ron, it was a giant robot that had crashed into the polar ice and got stuck.”

“Hold on,” Ron scoffed, “a robot? Judy it was the 1890's, there was no such things as robots back then, and there was certainly nothing that could have 'crashed' that far north. The only things that flew at that time were hot air balloons, kites and birds.”

Judy sighed, this was going to be tougher than she had originally thought. “Well, there may not have been any robots built on Earth...”

“Have you been listening to your brother again?” Ron interrupted, “I've read Grandpa's journals and what he describes is impossible, nothing like that could have been built then, let alone hauled to the Arctic and left in the ice. I'll agree that it is possible that Grandpa Archie saw something during that expedition that defied description by what was known at the time, but it wasn't a giant ice man.”

“Ron, listen to me. What Grandpa Archie's journals described was real. It was a giant silver alien robot that crashed in the Arctic, got caught in the ice and forced into stasis for over a thousand years.”

“Alien? Honestly Judy, have you gotten into the wine early today?” Ron asked with a chuckle.

Judy glared at her husband and huffed in frustration, there were times when she just couldn't fathom how he could be satisfied in his tiny unimaginative little world. “Darling, I love you, but haven't you even once looked up at the night sky and considered that there just might be a whole lot of things out in the universe that are just waiting for us to stumble across them? Is it so hard to believe that there might be things out there that could just as easily stumble across us?”

Ron poked his spoon into his bowl of melting brownie sundae, he could tell that Judy really wanted him to answer her, but he wasn't sure that he could. When he was younger there had been a time when he had been fascinated with the ideas of extraterrestrial life and space travel. At the time it seemed like everyone was, it was the era of Earth's first steps into space and manned flights to the moon. Ron could still vividly remember gathering together with his family and watching the broadcasts of man's first steps on the moon. Now Judy was asking him if he really believed that humans were the only possible intelligence capable of space travel, or could he accept the idea that there might just be others out there who also had the ability to travel the stars. Not only that, Judy was asking him if he could believe that those others had been around for a very long time, long enough to cross the vast distances between the stars and end up on Earth. Ron still wasn't sure as he sighed, “Okay, just for the sake of argument, let's say that I agree with you and what Grandpa Archie found frozen in the ice really was some sort of giant alien robot. What does that have to do with what happened to us this last spring?”

“Ron, it has everything to do with it. After the expedition the government didn't just forget about the location of Grandpa's 'Ice Man', but without the kind of news coverage and networking we have today I guess it wasn't hard to cover it up. In the 1930's they dug it free from the polar ice and moved it to a facility in Nevada where a bunch of scientists kept it on ice and studied it. As I understand it a lot of today's technology was 'invented' because of what they discovered by studying how it was put together. This last spring, a few more of its kind arrived on Earth following the trail of the ice man. When they arrived, the one that was frozen in Nevada woke up, and there was a battle in Mission city. Apparently, the one who was frozen was the leader of one faction and one of the ones who arrived in the spring was the leader of an opposing faction.”

“Battles? Leaders of opposing factions? Judy are you saying that all of that stuff in Mission City was some kind of skirmish in a war?”

“Precisely Ron, in fact it was the deciding skirmish in the civil war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Those are the two factions of alien robots who ended up on Earth last spring.”

Ron stirred the brownie soup that was now left in his bowl. As odd as Judy's story sounded, it made more sense than what he'd been hearing from the news. Thinking back to the odd insurance claims he'd stumbled across when he was getting back to work after that disastrous weekend, what he'd turned up after poking around when Sam got that shiny new Camaro, and what he had read from the links one of his partners at the office had sent him concerning conspiracy theories about Mission City Ron had to admit that Judy's story gained even more weight. Spooning up a few mouthfuls of melted chocolate goodness Ron thought about the past few weeks. Other than dealing with having his son in the hospital for an extended stay, things had been fairly quiet. There were no news stories about attacks by massive machines, more terrorist attacks destroying buildings, or America going to war on yet another front. This led him to assume that when Judy said decisive skirmish that everything was over. “So, what now? Have these aliens left? Gone home? Settled down and started their own businesses selling super high tech toasters or something? And that still doesn't explain what happened to Sam.”

“Well, to explain how Sam got involved I have to tell you a little more about what happened with Grandpa Archie during his expedition. When Grandpa fell down that hidden crevasse he discovered the leader of the Decepticons, that was what the 'ice man' really was. While he was down there Grandpa did something that somehow activated one of the robot's systems. It shot out a kind of laser based transmission at him and etched a kind of treasure map onto the lenses of Archie's glasses. The exposure to the laser is what destroyed Grandpa's sight, not the fall, and it was the other information in the transmission that caused him to go mad.”

“Transmission? Treasure map?”

“Yes, after all doesn't it make sense that an alien would need to have some kind of reason to leave their planet, cross the galaxy and end up on Earth? The ice man and the others of its kind crossed interstellar distances searching for an artifact that had been sent into space by the leader of the Autobots in an effort to keep it out of Decepticon hands. Both factions scattered across the stars trying to find it, and when the ice man did he had the unfortunate luck to get trapped in the polar ice cap before he could recover the artifact.”

“Okay, so Grandpa Archie's glasses got turned into some kind of map which would lead these aliens to their artifact?”

“Exactly,” Judy agreed.

“So how did these aliens find out about the map?” Ron asked as he began to get caught up in what Judy was telling him.

“When you gave Sam that box of odds and ends which you had saved from Grandpa Archie's expedition so he could do his family genealogy report for Mr. Honesey's history class you told him that you didn't care what he did with it. Since most of that stuff could be considered antiques Sam thought it would be a quick way to earn money if he put it up on E-Bay.”

“Sam put the glasses up on E-Bay?” Ron spluttered, “I didn't think he'd try to get rid of Grandpa's things. I thought he would just add them to that collection of stuff he has on the shelves in his room.”

“Well, he was in the middle of trying to raise that two thousand dollars you'd asked for to buy him a car. Think about it, what would you have done in his position?”

“Ah, what would I have done if Dad had given me a box of antiques that I could use for a school project, let me know that he didn't care about what happened to them, and I was in need of money at the time?” Ron reviewed looking across the patio table and seeing Judy nod. Grimacing, Ron answered, “Honestly? I would have used them for the project and then hocked them at the nearest antique shop.”

“Right, so don't get mad at Sam for putting them up on E-Bay, and I'll let you know that he's taken everything down and nothing ended up being sold.”

“Good, but I'm still puzzled about how aliens knew that Grandpa Archie's glasses were being sold on E-Bay.”

“Ron, the aliens we're talking about are not organic like us, they're technological. In essence they are all big walking supercomputers. Even with everything the scientists learned from examining the one they had frozen since 1936 its only been in the last ten or fifteen years that our technology has come anywhere close to even the simplest of theirs. Our fastest and most elaborate computers would be like toddler toys to them. They have had plenty of time to master anything we could ever possibly dream of concerning electronics, computers, machines, what have you. Ron, they are ancient.”

Ron blinked, realizing that Judy was talking as if she had undeniable proof of everything she claimed. The only way he could think of Judy getting that proof was if she had also seen the aliens. Finishing the last scrapings of chocolate from his bowl and washing it down with a swallow of milk he looked directly into his wife's eyes as he asked, “Judy, have you seen these aliens?”

“Yes Ron, I have. I found out about them when Sam was in the hospital because I overheard a few conversations between the doctors and officers. I kept listening and discovered that what happened in Mission City was no terrorist attack and that Earth had become the site of one of the final battles in an alien war. When I first found out I had a few nightmares that we would soon find ourselves fighting against whatever had caused the damage in Mission City. The whole 'humanity against the alien threat' story that we've been entertained by for years in movies and such. Then I discovered that the faction that 'won', the Autobots, hold all life in high regard and are willing to work with us to defend the Earth from outside threats.”

“Outside threats?”

“Well, even though the Autobots prevailed it is going to take time for the news to spread, and there may be members of the Decepticons who refuse to accept that their war is over. They've been fighting each other for so long, I don't think there is an event in Earth's history that I could use to mark the beginnings of it.”

“Earth's history? You're not just limiting it to human history are you.”

“No, I'm not. The alien I spoke with told me that their search for their artifact had taken approximately 83,000 years and that they had been fighting for much longer before that. We can only reasonably stretch written human history to around 4000 BC. Modern humans didn't even exist until sometime between 200 and 100 thousand years ago. Even the youngest member of their race is older than that. They don't age or measure time like we do. A single one of their years is equal to 83 of ours.”

“I guess that makes sense if they can survive long enough to travel between the stars, and search for their artifact while they move.” Ron agreed. “So, I know that you've got some other reason behind telling me this... Does it have anything to do with Sam?”

“It does, you see the leader of the Autobots has decided that they owe our family a debt because of something that happened at the end of the skirmish in Mission City, and has decided to send one of his people to protect Sam and us.”

“What?”

“The leader of the Autobots decided that we need protection, just in case there are any Decepticons who want to get revenge on Sam. Because it was Sam who struck the fatal blow to their leader.”

“What?”

“Sam was the one who brought their war to an end. He used the artifact that they had been searching for and destroyed the leader of the Decepticons. It was when he triggered it that his hands and arms got burned. I suppose you could say he sacrificed himself for their victory. Sam was very brave, he didn't know if he would survive taking down the Decepticon leader, but he did realize that if he didn't then none of us would be safe. Before he took action the Autobots were loosing, and if the Decepticons won then the Earth would be enslaved and the artifact would be used to create an army with the goal of ruling the galaxy by force.”

Ron looked at Judy in stunned silence. What he had just learned shook the foundations of his world, and he was feeling decidedly wobbly. Judy stood and cleared the patio table of their dishes and took them into the house, leaving him to contemplate what he had just heard. Now it was up to him to accept or deny what she'd told him. Ron wondered if this was a little bit how people felt when confronted with Darwin's theory of evolution, or when the first airplane took flight, or when the first man blasted into space. The Witwicky's family motto ran through his mind 'No sacrifice, no victory', Ron guessed that all of this just proved that Sam truly understood what those words meant and took them to heart. A growing part of his mind was becoming excited at the prospect of meeting something that to most people was merely fantasy and Ron decided that he could accept that what his wife told him was possible, but he was also fairly certain that he wouldn't be completely convinced until he had seen these aliens with his own eyes.

Judy returned from the house with coffee and offered Ron his mug, “So, are you going to be alright with this?”

“I think I can manage. What do we need to do to prepare for our bodyguard?” Ron asked as he remembered Judy telling him that one of the Autobots would be protecting them.

“Well, I suppose that Bumblebee wouldn't mind if we cleaned out and fixed up the garage.” Judy answered with thoughtful look on her face, “Maybe we should look at replacing it completely, then we could ask him what he needs.”

“Bumblebee? Isn't that what Sam named his car?”

“That's right... oh, I guess I forgot to tell you that part. These aliens can mimic Earth technology. Most of the Autobots choose to mimic cars and trucks. The Decepticons picked a variety of military vehicles like helicopters or jet fighters.”

“So, Sam's Camaro isn't really a car. It's an alien robot, pretending to be a car?”

“Uh huh, you've got it.”

“That means that Sam wasn't lying at the police station when he told them that the car 'just stood up'... but that was the car we bought at Bolivia's”

“True, Bumblebee changed his car form because Sam's friend Mikaela made some snarky comment about how beat up he looked.” Judy replied with a grin.

“It's the same car?”

“Yes, Bee was damaged at Mission City, and with Sam in the hospital he stayed with the Autobots until Sam came home.”

Ron whistled appreciatively, “That's got to be the best four thousand dollars I've ever spent.”

Judy smiled, she knew that if Ron could joke about it then he was well on his way to accepting all that she had told him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoover Dam was fine as a hiding place for Sector Seven when it housed the Allspark and Megatron on ice, but not so great for training a cooperative force that will defend the planet from the remnants of the Decepticon forces. "Let's put them on an island in the Pacific!" - Well maybe that works in the movies. I never cared much for Bay putting them that far away from everything. How are new arrivals supposed to find good Alt forms? Let's try something closer to home...

Optimus let Bumblebee's news flow through his processors, it looked like Ratchet's concerns that Sam would be affected by being exposed to the unshielded energy of the Allspark were valid. He wondered what he could do to convince Sam's parents to allow the young man permission to visit their new base for a few days. Standing from his desk he strode out of his office and down the corridor to see if he could locate either Captain Lennox or Sergeant Epps to see if they had any ideas about how to invite Sam in such a way that Ron and Judy would allow him to come. Looking around Prime was impressed again about the feat of human engineering that had created this base. The massive hallway stretched into the distance and large doors indicated the presence of several similarly large rooms. A system of iron rails ran down the center of the corridor which was used as tracks for a system of electric trams. The trams moved supplies, people and the contents of the hanger sized rooms from place to place in the large underground complex. Optimus felt very comfortable here, it reminded him of some of the Autobot outposts he had occupied during some of the more quiet times during their long conflict. What made it even more impressive was that the majority of the base was constructed underground in an effort to hide its full presence and purpose from foreign powers that might have reconnaissance satellites or aircraft during Earth's more turbulent political past. Only a few structures, aircraft hangers and a couple of runways were visible on the surface, it was under that surface where one of the largest secrets of the United States military lay.

After the battle at Mission City everyone had returned to Hoover Dam because it was one of the few places then known to have underground chambers and facilities large enough to hide the Autobots and the broken frames of the defeated Decepticons, but most of the Cybertronians were not comfortable there. Hoover Dam was too much of a well known tourist attraction for humans and they could all feel a remnant of the Allspark's energy signature in the very stones. Almost immediately Optimus began negotiating with Defense Secretary Keller, and through him the President of the United States to find an acceptable location where they could build a base of operations which was out of the public view. Optimus had easily agreed with the sentiment that the wider population of the Earth wasn't quite ready for exposure to Cybertronian life after viewing the fairly hysterical response on the web to the Mission City battle. Within hours of the battle thousands of websites and chatrooms had sprung up and most were hollering about government cover-ups and conspiracy theories. A very few had grainy, low quality footage that had apparently been filmed using cell phones by people at the edges of the battle. Most of the potential recordings of the battle had been wiped by the large EMP pulse generated by the destruction of the Allspark's cube. All of the buildings in a four block radius of the pulse epicenter needed to have every piece of electronic equipment and copper wiring replaced before they could be brought back into service. The pulse had fried every computer, telephone, fax, copy machine and fuel injection system in a ten block radius, if it weren't for the fact that the Cybertronians themselves were built or modified to withstand the pulses, waves and stellar radiations encountered in their travels across the vast distances of space the only mech who would have survived that battle would have been Starscream since he had been retreating and had cleared the blast zone. Optimus gave a little internal shudder as that thought crossed his processors, viciously preempting any contemplation of what might have been. As he continued striding down the long hallway Optimus distracted himself by remembering the day that had first brought him to the location that was now being partially converted into the Cybertronian Consulate on Earth.

The breakthrough had happened during a pause in the negotiations with Secretary Keller and the President. Tensions had been running high at the bargaining table, in addition to arriving at a stalemate on where to house the Autobots, the President had demanded that the frames of the Decepticons be disposed of without first allowing Ratchet to strip them of parts. After listening to Keller and the President snarl at each other over a video link for several hours Optimus had suggested that they might make better progress if they took a break for an hour or two and then returned to the table. It was as they were passing the space set aside as a coffee break room before gathering back together to continue the negotiations that Glen Whitman was overheard posing the question, “Why not put the Autobots up at Area 51?” The humans in the area had given Glen strange looks and some had started laughing, until it was noticed that neither Secretary Keller nor Tom Banacheck were smiling. In fact both wore contemplative expressions and shared serious looks, when they caught each others eye Banacheck gave a slight shrug of his shoulders and Keller quirked an eyebrow. Optimus had been confused until he had checked the reference via the web and had his processors bombarded with 'alien sighting' websites.

“Pardon me Mr. Whitman, but you are speaking of the same place that your internet claims the government is already housing alien artifacts, correct?” Optimus asked, wanting to make sure that he had heard the young computer hacker accurately.

“Yes sir, I think that it would be perfect.”

“What makes you say that son?” Secretary Keller asked before Optimus could respond.

“Well,” Glen started hesitantly as he marshaled his thoughts, “the whole area is heavily classified already, as well as being marked and strongly enforced as a no trespassing zone. It's surrounded by the testing area used for the practice bombing runs for Nellis Air Force Base, military training flights and aircraft testing, so it's a huge area where it wouldn't be too difficult to mask the arrival of any incoming Autobots from space. It's also pretty far from major roads and cities, so they would have some privacy, but it's not so remote that they couldn't be contacted easily. I also think that the whole 'alien conspiracy theory' aspect could work as an advantage.”

“How so?” Optimus asked.

“As I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong, the site was originally used for the development and flight testing of experimental aircraft. Then it was the base for operation OXCART which were high altitude supersonic surveillance flights which were started in the 1950's. The aircraft used for those flights were of an unusual design that had an almost 'saucer' like profile when seen from some angles. The plane's extreme speed and high altitude flight plans meant that they were really only seen by people on the ground when they took off or landed, so the area around the base got a reputation for UFO's. With the history of the government's repeated denial of UFO's and even their involvement at Area 51 it's built a strong foundation of disbelief. I mean, if I told my friends that I'd met aliens and they believed me enough to ask where I'd met them, then I told them that the aliens were at Area 51 or Groom Lake, Nevada? They'd laugh themselves sick and refuse to believe me, even if I was being completely honest.”

Everyone looked at Glen thoughtfully for a couple of moments before Will Lennox spoke up, “You know, he has a point. Even in the military the rumors of aliens at Area 51 is something to laugh about.”

“And there's another aspect of putting them there that you might not know about.” Secretary Keller said with a growing smile, “Since the area falls under the Department of Defense a lot of what we were arguing about with the President doesn't apply. It might not be a traditional Consulate arrangement, but this isn't exactly a traditional situation is it. You've already offered to help defend the Earth from extraterrestrial threats, specifically the Decepticons, it's only right that we offer to house you, like we would a squad from a foreign ally in a cooperative maneuver. In those situations we try to use facilities that already exist, to help keep costs down. The fact that the only adequate facility in our possession just happens to be Groom Lake? Well... I guess we just have to call it fate.”

Optimus shifted his frame a little, what they were talking about wasn't exactly legal or illegal, “John,” Optimus spoke seriously, “I do not desire to get you in trouble with your government. As you have said your term of office is almost up, this arrangement you are suggesting would have to be renegotiated with your successor, would it not?”

“Possibly, but it will give us time to come up with some other options and there is a chance that when the new President is elected that I could keep my position. There's an even better chance that because of your presence, some kind of new department will spring up, and I would fully expect that the administration would tap me to be involved with it because of my experience with you.

“I mentioned that your situation is different than a traditional consulate arrangement because in those situations the country who is allowed to build a consulate is expected to reciprocate and allow the United States to build their own consulate in their country. We can't do that in this situation, because as you have indicated your home planet is not habitable by human life. This puts us in an untested situation. Dealing with Cybertronians is the first time we've had to consider cooperative treaties with beings not from our planet. I'm not quite sure that the President and the other members of government realize that whatever we do will be setting precedent for the future. If they do it could go either way, they could decide that your presence is a benefit, or they could use it to make political statements and hobble us from doing anything. I think it will be best if the DOD treats your people as a visiting military force and 'leases' you part of a base. Then the decisions fall under my department. We can write the leasing contract to stipulate that a designated area would be Cybertronian territory and would fall under your jurisdiction, similar to a consulate. Also we can write the term of the lease to be considerably longer than the remaining time I have in office. Then the contract might come up for review by my successor, but if everyone is abiding by the terms of the contract they won't have any reason to change it.”

After those revelations the process was fairly straightforward, and within two weeks the Autobots had moved from the old Sector Seven headquarters under Hoover Dam to the facilities at Area 51. Their contract didn't give them exclusive rights to the property, since it was still being used for a variety of research and development projects, but it did allow them to move freely through its halls and set aside a hanger on the surface and a large portion of the underground complex for their use.

\---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---

“Sam, would there be any way of convincing your parents that you need a few days to go and have a follow up exam with Dr. Martin?” Bumblebee asked a few days after their conversation at the farm house.

“I suppose, but I don't think Mom will let me go alone to something like that.”

“I'll check with Optimus, it might be alright for her to come along, since she already knows about me.”

“She what!?”

“She already knows about me, and I think she's been speaking with your Dad about us as well.” Bumblebee was concerned about how his comments were affecting Sam as the boy's heart rate and respiration quickened. “Sam calm down, before I came back here I'd already asked Optimus if I could reveal our presence to Judy and Ron if they discovered me. He agreed that the position that your government was taking by keeping them in the dark would be detrimental to their safety if your home were ever attacked and one of us arrived to rescue you. It would be difficult to keep them from harm if they were panicking and didn't know which side was concerned for their well being. I've been cleared to tell them about our history, what symbols designate Autobots or Decepticons, to show them a few images and give them some basic descriptions of what we look like in both Mech or Alt forms. It's possible that when more of us arrive that Optimus will assign a personal guard to them, just like I'm assigned to you.

“Your Mom confronted me early on the first Saturday I was here. She came out here with that baseball bat of hers and then we went up to the lookout and had a very pleasant conversation. She knows all about what really happened in Mission City and she understands that what you did was monumental for both Cybertronians and Earthlings. She may not have said anything to you yet, but she is very proud of you and what you did that day.”

“Okay...” Sam said in a very skeptical voice, “You haven't said anything to them about Sparky right? I don't really want to tell Mom and Dad that I'm carrying the Allspark around yet. I know that I'll have to let them know eventually, but let's face it that's quite a bombshell to drop on them so soon after they've learned about you guys. However, if my folks already know about you, then why don't I just ask for some time to go visit?”

“Um...” Bumblebee ran Sam's suggestion through his processors several times and couldn't find anything wrong with it. “I suppose we could...”

“Why so hesitant?”

“Well, Optimus and the others have been wracking their processors to try to figure out a way to make it so you had permission from your parents for a couple-day trip to Nevada. So you can visit the new base and Ratchet can check you out. I guess we all got a little carried away with the subterfuge and the government's request that we stay hidden that we forgot that Judy and Ron already know about me.”

Sam tried, he really did, but the image of Optimus and the others coming up with various plans to 'sneak' him out to Nevada and a couple of asides from Sparky about 'alien abductions' had him hooting with laughter.

After Sam had recovered his wits and could breathe again he smiled. “I'll ask them at dinner tonight if it would be okay. Mom will still want to come along, I think, but you already said that having her with us wouldn't be a problem. So, I figure if we go in the next day or two then we can be back for the weekend when Miles and Mikaela will want to do things. Does that sound alright?”

“I'll let the others know that we should be there late tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

Sam returned to the house, giving Bee a friendly pat on the hood as he walked around the parked Camaro, shaking his head as he continued to chuckle about the situation that Optimus and the others had created for themselves. He guessed that it had a lot to do with the fact that they were all soldiers. The Autobots had been at war for so long and they were so used to coming up with battle scenarios and contingency plans that when something simple came up they almost automatically over thought it, making the situation much more complicated than it had to be.

\---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---^^---

“Mom, Dad, Bee asked me if it would be alright with you if I took a trip to Nevada for a couple of days to see their new base, and apparently Ratchet wants to check out how I'm healing.”

“What honey?” Judy asked as she brought a serving bowl of roasted potatoes, carrots and onions to the table. Ron was listening intently as he carved slices of ham on another serving platter.

“Bee asked if it would be alright for me to visit the others at their new base for a couple of days, and Ratchet has expressed an interest in learning how humans heal. I think he also wants to work up a file on me so he can increase his knowledge about the people who are most likely to associate with them.”

“Who's Ratchet?” Ron asked.

“He's the Autobot's medic Dad.”

“Hm,” Judy hummed as she pondered and served up potatoes and vegetables, “I don't like the idea of you seeing their medic without either one of us there. I know that you're getting all grown up on us, but you're not a legal adult yet. A doctor would need to have our permission to examine or treat you unless it was a life threatening emergency.”

“Well, I think I can get it okayed for you to come along. In fact, they'll probably insist that you come in and sign a bunch of non-disclosure agreements since you 'discovered' the truth about Bumblebee.”

Ron nodded, “Well Sam, you better see if I can come along too.”

“You sure you want to Dad? I mean, you haven't really met Bee yet...”

“Yes Sam, your Mother and I have been talking, and I've done a lot of thinking. I want to know more about what you've managed to get involved with. When were you thinking of taking this trip?”

“We were hoping to go tomorrow, so that we could be back by the weekend when Miles and Mikaela might be looking to do something together.” Sam admitted.

“If you can wait a day, I should be able to get time away from the office.”

“Okay, I'll ask Bee to put the request through, and explain that you both need to come in and sign the forms. We'll plan on leaving the day after tomorrow and tonight I'll introduce Dad to Bumblebee.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay folks! The starting scene of this chapter just didn't want to be written.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "(Text text text)" = Words in a language other than English
> 
> Joor = Cybertronian time unit equivalent to 5,000 Earth Seconds (approximately 83 minutes)

“Well, that could have gone better,” Judy muttered as she looked at the prone form of her husband who lay unconscious on the ground.

Sam blinked, the introduction of his Dad to Bumblebee was certainly different from what he’d imagined. They’d returned to the abandoned farmhouse Sam and Bee had visited earlier as it was more secluded than the lookout. Sam had ‘driven’ with his Father in the front passenger seat and his Mom in the back. When they arrived Sam felt Bee send out the pulse that would drive away any unwanted critters. Hopping out of the driver seat he came around to where his Dad was helping his Mom out of the back seat. Once everyone was out they took a few steps away from the yellow and black Camaro, Sam turned to face his parents and spoke, “Mom, Dad, I’d like to introduce you to Autobot Scout Bumblebee.”

The air filled with the distinctive sound of Cybertronian transformation circuitry as Bumblebee’s form split apart, shifting and whirling into his ‘Robot’ configuration. Sam kept his eyes on his parents, gaging their reactions. While his Mom’s expression was filled with awe and wonder, his Dad’s eyes grew wide with shock and fear. Ron back peddled and sputtered as his mind tried to take in what it was seeing, but it was just too much as his eyes rolled back and he collapsed in a faint.

Bee warbled with concern as Ron toppled to lay quietly on the ground. His sensors informed him that Sam’s father was simply unconscious. He was still breathing and his heartbeat was strong. Neither Sam nor Judy seemed overly distressed at this reaction, so Bee decided to simply keep watch.

“Uh, Mom...” Sam started, not knowing quite what to say.

“It was the same when I told him I was pregnant with you, and when I went into labor,” Judy tutted as she moved to check that Ron hadn’t cracked his head on a rock as he fell. “He’ll be better in a few minutes, as long as he hasn’t hit his head. Better for it to be here than when we meet your other friends Sammy.” 

Sam nodded, “Uh Mom, you know that Bee is one of the smallest of the Autobots. Do you think Dad might faint again when he meets them?”

Judy mused as she checked Ron’s pulse and the back of his head, “I’m not sure, it’s not like we’ve ever been in a position like this before. I mean who really expects to meet visitors from another world? Especially one who’s been ‘hiding’ as a car parked in our driveway for weeks?” Finishing her examination she nodded, “It looks like he’ll be fine other than a couple of bruises on his pride.”

Sam helped his Mom roll his Dad into a recovery position and waited for him to wake. It took a few minutes, but eventually Ron stirred and looked around for his wife and son. Bee stayed back, out of his sight so he wouldn’t cause any undue shock. Slowly Ron levered himself up to a seated position and turned to gaze upon the most amazing piece of technology he’d ever seen. It wasn’t hard for him to accept that this being before him was alive, everywhere he looked he saw the motion of small gears, switches and joints working in a complex dance unmatched by anything he’d ever witnessed. This was far beyond any animatronics, yet a part of Ron’s mind took comfort from the fact that Bumblebee’s face didn’t look much like a human. It made Bee’s extraterrestrial origins more believable. Nodding to himself Ron took his time wrapping his thoughts around what his eyes were telling him was the truth. His son had met aliens and they were his friends. ‘Okay, I can deal with this.’ Ron thought to himself as he began to feel more comfortable with the idea. Gathering himself Ron slowly got to his feet, brushed the dirt and bits of grass from his clothes and cleared his throat to recover a bit of his bruised dignity.

A crackle of static preceded Bee’s distinguished voice, “Have you rebooted successfully Mr. Witwicky?”

“Rebooted?” Ron asked.

Bee nodded, “At times when a Cybertronian is faced with an overflow of input, or hasn’t had a chance to complete a full recharge cycle, our operating systems can force us to reboot. Causing similar symptoms to what my sensors say you just went through.”

Ron thought for a moment, what Bumblebee said certainly made sense, he’d been faced with an overwhelming flood of information that basically caused him to ‘shut down’ and ‘restart’. Bobbing his head he spoke, “Yeah, I suppose I have... I should be okay now, but no guarantees...”

“May I inform my superiors of this? They will do what they can to make sure you stay safe and recover well if this happens again.” Bee asked.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Ron agreed, thinking back to everything Sam went through on the weekend of events in Mission City, and how having a fainting episode during any of that could have ended in disaster.

Bee nodded, “You are not alone in this Mr. Witwicky, one of the Autobots has quite a reputation for unscheduled reboots. You may have the opportunity to meet him if he has survived and is close enough to receive the signal from Optimus Prime that our war with the Decepticons is over.”

Ron gave a wry chuckle, “Glad to know that I’m not alone, but it’s still a bit embarrassing.”

After that rocky start Ron asked a few questions and finally learned all the details about the events surrounding the Autobot’s arrival and the battle at Mission City, including the legacy left to his family by his Grandfather’s Arctic explorations. Their discussions went well into the night and it was well past midnight when they returned home. Sam was glad that he could leave the driving to Bee as it took all his concentration just to keep his eyes open.

\--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--

After packing overnight bags with a couple days worth of clothing, and giving a call to both Miles and Mikaela to let them know that Sam had an appointment with his doctor that would take a couple of days, Sam and his parents climbed into Bee and began the drive out to Nevada. Sam sat behind the wheel, Ron took the front passenger seat and Judy settled comfortably in the back seat. The trip was uneventful, Judy managed to convince both Sam and Ron to participate in some of the driving games they used to do during long trips when Sam was a child and by the time they had arrived at Nellis AFB Bumblebee had learned several travel games that humans used to keep themselves occupied. They played 'I-spy', made up sentences from the letters on license plates, and kept a running tally of how many different states were represented by the plates on the cars traveling around them.

As Bumblebee pulled up to the gate leading into Nellis Sam saw Will get out of Ironhide's cab and make his way over to the guard post. After a brief discussion one of the guards checked their identification and they were permitted on the base. Will hopped back into Ironhide and led the way to a cluster of nondescript buildings. Once Ironhide had parked, and Bee had taken the slot next to him, Will climbed down from the cab of the big black truck and walked over to greet the Witwickys.

“Hey Sam, Mr & Mrs. Witwicky, was your trip okay?”

“It was fine Major Lennox, thanks for asking.” Judy quickly replied.

“Good, before we head out to the base I need to make sure that we have all the non-disclosure forms filled out for you folks, so if you'll just follow me, I'll help you get started on them.” Will explained as he led them into the closest building and into a conference room where there was a table, several chairs and three thick folders of forms, several pens lay next to the stacks of paper. Sam and Judy blinked at the thick stack while Ron just sighed and took a seat.

Will chuckled, “I know it looks like a lot but the legal department wanted to make sure they covered all the bases from the beginning.”

Sam groaned when he remembered that Mikaela had bitched to him about the pile of forms that she'd been required to fill out shortly after Mission City. Sam had escaped the first round of bureaucratic paperwork because of his injuries, apparently he wasn't going to get out of it now.

It was late by the time all the paperwork was complete, so Will made arrangements for the Witwicky's to stay the night in guest quarters and let them know that they would head out to the base first thing in the morning.

\--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--

“Area 51? You actually put the base at Area 51?” Sam stammered a bit before beginning to laugh. Sam turned in his seat, to look at Will with sparkling eyes. This morning Sam had opted to ride in Ironhide with Will as they traveled from Nellis to the new base and Sam had just seen a warning sign letting them know that they were approaching Area 51.

“What's so funny?” Will asked as he fought a grin.

“Just remembering what you and Epps said when you first told me about the base 'No neighbors for miles, but a bit of a reputation'. I think Area 51 has more than a 'bit' of a reputation.”

Will shrugged, “Well its the truth. Even inside the military Area 51 is somewhat of a joke. It was Glen who really came up with the idea and sold it to Secretary Keller. The Area is surrounded by testing ranges for the Air Force, so it gives any incoming Autobots plenty of space to land without damaging civilian property. Having Las Vegas close gives us a good source for finding a variety of Alt modes for them. Finally, when the Cybertronians go public in the future we'll be able to fudge a little on when they arrived. It will probably help their image if we can say that they've been here for years working alongside our forces.”

Twenty minutes after passing the fence that defined the edge of Area 51, Ironhide pulled into a large aircraft hangar, Bumblebee pulled up beside him and the door closed behind them. Once the door was closed, half the floor began to sink accompanied by the sound of heavy machinery and hydraulics. The floor tilted, forming a long ramp leading down and Sam could see light streaming up from what was apparently an underground base. With a quiet thump the ramp came to a stop and Ironhide rolled forward leading the way down into the base. At the bottom they were met by Optimus and Ratchet. Releasing his seat-belt Sam made to exit Ironhide's cab, but was interrupted by Ratchet reaching in and plucking him from his seat. Sam made an indignant squawk, but didn't struggle as Ratchet began swiftly carrying him down a long hallway.  
Ron and Judy had scrambled out of Bumblebee, their shock at seeing Optimus and Ratchet superseded by concern when they saw their son being swept away by the citron green Autobot. “Hey! Where are you taking my son!?” Ron bellowed as he started after Ratchet. Bumblebee quickly transformed and held Ron back.

“It's okay Mr. Witwicky, Ratchet has been concerned about Sam since Mission City. He's a bit brisk, and as you can see his bedside manner needs work when dealing with humans, but he won't do anything to hurt Sam.” Bee explained.

Ron blinked, “He's been concerned about Sam since Mission City?”

Bee nodded, “Ratchet's our medic. He's the one who transported Sam to the military hospital after the battle. His alt mode is a Search and Rescue Ambulance. Today is the first day Ratchet's seen Sam since then. I've tried to keep him updated with reports and scans, but he's hard to satisfy and his instrumentation is specialized for medical purposes. He'll be able to see things that I'd miss because of his knowledge and understanding of organic physiology.”

\--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--

Ratchet moved quickly down the hall muttering to himself in Cybertronian. Sam could hear the whirring and clicking of Ratchet's optics as they flipped and adjusted through a series of scans. A couple of times Sam could feel the waves of energy as they passed through his body and Sparky was a little shocked at Ratchet's abruptness. After a turn or two and passing down a good length of corridor Ratchet turned to a large hanger door with a keypad next to it he paused for a moment as half of the door rolled to the side allowing him to enter the room beyond. Sam peered around, this was obviously Ratchet's space the large room was divided into several repair bays, most had large heavy tables surrounded by racks of tools and bins of parts. One had a car lift and another was extra large. Sam saw that one of the tables was occupied with a sheet draped chassis. Ratchet strode over to one of his empty tables put Sam down and turned to some cabinets set along the wall. He opened and closed doors, shuffled through the contents and gathered up an armful of instruments and probes before returning to the table. Sam sat quietly, realizing that Ratchet must have already picked up on the changes that Sparky's presence was causing within Sam and had gone into medical overdrive. All the while Ratchet was muttering and grumbling up a storm. Sam couldn't catch everything the medic was saying, even with Sparky's almost instant translations. More scans washed across his body, making his skin tingle. One of Ratchet's hands transformed into a veritable forest of small tools, probes and testers. When Sam saw Ratchet approach, bristling with pointy objects he quickly scooted back from the edge of the table. The medic continued to advance, not paying any attention to Sam's frantic scrambling across the tabletop.

“Ratchet! Ratchet! Wait!” Sam yelled, finally making enough noise to register with the sour faced Autobot.

Ratchet huffed in exasperation, “Sam, your body is giving off energy and radio frequencies that organic creatures shouldn't be capable of. I believe that your physical structure has been affected by your exposure to the Allspark. I'm trying to determine how it happened and what impact these levels will have on your body. According to my scans they have become self perpetuating, which should be a physical impossibility for an organic being like yourself. The sources are dispersed throughout your cellular structure in such a fashion that I do not believe I can remove them and keep you alive.”

Sam smiled inwardly knowing that Sparky must have already started on the foundation work for his conversion. He nodded at Ratchet, “Yeah, I already know about it and you're correct in thinking that being exposed to the Allspark is what started it. However, what you're sensing isn't the entire story. Will you allow me to show you?”

“Show me? How?”

“Put those torture devices away,” Sam said with a wave at Ratchet's bristling arm, “and take my hands.” Sam proceeded to strip off his splints and gloves.

Ratchet collapsed his testing and sampling appendages back into his hand and gingerly grasped Sam's bare hands. Just like when Bee took his hands at the ruined farmstead Sam felt his perception twist and found himself sitting on a virtual boulder, holding hands with Ratchet with Sparky suspended between them.

Ratchet's optics were immediately drawn to the spinning, flashing cube, “Sam...”

Sam grinned, “Ratchet, meet Sparky. Sparky, I'd like you to meet Ratchet, Prime's (Medic/Mechanic)”

Sparky flashed and spun over their joined hands, “Hi, Hi,” it chirped.

“Sam...” Ratchet said slowly as he began to recognize the symbols on the spinning cube, “Is that the Allspark?”

“Yes,” Sam confirmed. Ratchet suddenly blinked out of Sam's virtual sight. The next thing to register was a resounding crash which echoed through the room. Sam shook his head to clear away his virtual space to see what had happened. Looking down from the edge of the high table he saw Ratchet laid out on the floor with dimly flickering optics.  
“Ratchet?” Sam called quietly.

The citron green mech twitched a little and gave a noticeable 'blink'.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked a little louder. 

Ratchet groaned and brought a hand up to his helm, “I'm getting too old for this.” Ratchet shook his head slowly and his optics gave a series of blinks. With a half-hearted snarl he hoisted himself back to his feet. Sam gave a wry grin at the glare sent his way and once more held out his scarred hands. Ratchet tipped his head, but made no move to touch Sam.

“Sam, do you have any idea what the presence of the Allspark is doing to your body?”

“Sort of, but that's why we felt it necessary to bring you into the loop. Right now, if you were able to remove Sparky from my body, it would probably kill us both. It would definitely kill the Allspark. I'm sure that you've realized that if news of this gets out, or if I start broadcasting a stronger signal it would paint an even bigger target on my back then is already there.”

Ratchet nodded grimly, “Do your parents know anything about this?”

Sam shook his head and looked down at his hands, “No, I haven't told them about it yet. They're just getting used to the idea of your existence, I didn't want to spring this on them on top of that.”

“Hm, I'm not sure your decision is doing them a kindness Sam. I've observed that many humans do better if they have all the information at once, rather than delivering it a piece at a time.”

“Yeah, you could be right, but without your help anything Sparky and I come up with is pure speculation. This isn't something we can succeed with though trial and error. There's too much of a chance for fatal mistakes. I didn't want to spring this on Mom and Dad until we had a more concrete plan and a better understanding of what is going to happen to me.”

“I see. So you are determined to keep the Allspark inside your body?”

“Yes, I want to give Sparky the best chance for survival that I am capable of. I had a lot of time to consider my choices while I was recovering in the hospital. Once I'd discovered Sparky and we had learned how to communicate, we spent a lot of time sharing experiences and history. The more I learned about the Allspark's history the more determined I became and when Sparky learned what I knew about the Autobots and the history of your war with the Decepticons he realized that remaining as I was wouldn't provide him enough protection while he recovers. We've come to an agreement to assist each other.”

“Hm... Very well, I will help you with this Sam.” Ratchet reached out to take Sam's hands again and return them to the virtual space inside his head where the Allspark could join in the conversation. Sam soon found himself pushed a little to the side, he had to maintain contact with Ratchet, but the Medic and the Allspark were exchanging files and preliminary plans so quickly he couldn't keep up.

Sam didn't quite realize how much time had passed until he caught himself drifting off and his body listed, disconnecting from Ratchet and 'throwing' himself out of his virtual space. Ratchet's optics blinked at the sudden interruption. He quickly put out a hand to stabilize Sam, and keep him from falling off the berth.

“Forgive me Sam, I lost track of time. Your vitals show that you need refueling and a recharge cycle. We can continue our discussions after you've slept.”  
Sam nodded and yawned.

“I'll take you back to the others, so that they'll know you're okay. I won't tell them of our plans yet, but I will need to inform Optimus about the presence of the Allspark. He already knows about the weak signal you are giving off. However, he doesn't know its source.”

“You'll have to tell Optimus?”

“He is Prime. As our leader it is one of his charges to defend and protect all Cybertronians. Before the war began he shared that charge with his brother. Now it falls to Optimus alone. The continued existence of the Allspark is something he needs to know, because it can be seen as both a source of power and as a threat.”

“A threat?”

“Yes, the Allspark carries immense power. It literally has the power to create worlds and fill them with life, and now it has been proven that it can destroy that life as well.” Ratchet said solemnly and Sam stiffened. “Now don't misunderstand me Sam. I don't believe that the Allspark would ever destroy what it has created without reason or regret, but its capability to cause such destruction has been shown. I'm sure that you'll agree that where such power has been shown to exist there will always be someone who wants to control it and use that power to threaten others.”

Sam looked down at his hands and studied the permanent marks on their palms. “Ratchet... there's a kind of... I'd guess I'll have to call him an American 'pop hero' that a lot of people have been inspired by. This hero is guided by the principle that 'With great power comes great responsibility.'”

“I believe that is a line associated with the comic book character Spider-Man, is it not? This character is fictional, I've seen no evidence of humans being capable of possessing the climbing ability of an arachnid.”

Sam shook his head, “That's not the point Ratchet. It doesn't matter that the character is fictional when the message carries a basic truth. Humans don't live long enough to learn all the social tenants and mores through direct observation and practice. So people tell stories to pass the information on. There's a huge pool of heroic stories and epic tales that are meant to teach sets of values.”

Ratchet's optics flickered and Sam knew he was doing some quick web research, he grinned to himself as he realized that after he'd been converted he would be able to do the same thing.

“Hm, I think I'm beginning to understand what you mean, and truthfully I would not have agreed to assist you and Sparky in this if you hadn't shown me that you would work toward the benefit of all life Sam.” Ratchet said seriously, “Now, we've been talking long enough. You're in need of food and a recharge cycle, and Optimus has been pinging me for the last joor that your parents are growing concerned over how long I'm taking with you.”

Sam pulled his compression gloves back on and put on the splints. Ratchet extended a hand and lifted Sam to his shoulder where he would have a good grip as he started out of the med bay and down the halls to the quarters assigned to guests and human soldiers.

Judy swarmed her son as soon as Ratchet put him back on the ground, checking him for any damage and venting her frustration that she hadn't been with him as he was examined by the Autobot's 'doctor'

“Mom... Mom I'm fine, really... Ratchet was just giving me a check up and we got to talking. There are a couple more things he wants to go over, and I'm sure he's planning a few tests because he's interested in learning how humans heal from injuries, but I'm fine. Please stop worrying. I'll talk over everything with both you and Dad, but really I'm fine, just a little tired. So, could this wait until morning?”

“Of course Sammy, but don't think I won't find out what's going on.”

“I've no doubt of that Mom.” Sam chuckled.

Judy sent him a look, but led him off to the visitor quarters so Sam could get something to eat and then see where he was quartered.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots and lots of dialog in this chapter, but we introduce more characters into Sam's decision to assist the Allspark.  
> Cheers!

When Sam woke the following morning he knew that today was the day he would have to tell his parents about Sparky and what it meant for his future. He wasn't optimistic about how they would take it. He knew that there would be plenty of shock in his announcement and his Dad would bluster and holler and his Mom and threaten and worry. Rolling out of bed he made his way to the bathroom, he didn't want to deal with his parents before he was fully awake.

“Sam,” chirped Sparky.

“Yes?”

“I can help with Judy and Ron. I remember everything from our time in the hospital. Bee and the others can show what happened in the battle and what your great Grandfather learned. If you’re in contact with Bee or Ratchet I should be able to feed my information through one of their holographic projectors to let you parents see our discussions.”

“That might just work, I doubt that it will keep them from blustering and worrying. They won't like the fact that I made such an 'adult' decision without their guidance and permission.”

“Ah, they will be uncomfortable because this is a reminder that you are becoming mature and in less need of their protection and care.”

“Yeah, it will also remind them that they are getting older. I expect my Mom will get all emotional and go on about how she remembers when I was little and all the things she had to help me with.”

“And your Father?”

“I don't think he's quite gotten past the fact that Grandpa Archie discovered an alien yet. When he does he'll start going off on the fact that I'm 'his son' and the 'government, or whatever' can't take me away. I think that eventually he'll realize that I made up my own mind and that what's happening is my choice. I just hope that it will be some time before they fully realize what my becoming a Cybertronian means. Human lives are so short Sparky... most don't live far past a vorn. My parents will never get a chance to meet their Cybertronian grandkids.”

“Maybe you should encourage them to support Mikaela and Miles in that capacity.” Sparky offered.

“That's a thought, but Mom and Dad may take a while to accept that. They're going to want to hold on to me for as long as they can, and I can already tell that I'm growing away from them.”

“Wouldn't it be the same if you were to go away to college?”

“Probably, and whenever I mention going to college Mom gets all teary-eyed and Dad starts making noises about turning my room into some kind of 'man-cave'. I guess if I keep that in mind I'll have some idea about how they'll react to the news.”

Sam finished his morning ablutions and made his way to the cafeteria, where he found his parents eating breakfast and talking to Major Lennox. Sam grabbed a tray and filled it with food before taking a seat. Everyone went quiet and looked at Sam expectantly.

“Okay... First off, you guys are freaking me out a little looking at me like that.” Sam said after several minutes of them silently watching him eat.

“Sam, Will was just telling us about something that happened this morning between Ratchet and Optimus.” Judy explained.

“Oh?” Sam said as he looked as Will.

“Yeah, I was jogging past Optimus' office this morning and I could hear him talking to Ratchet. They were speaking mostly in Cybertronian so I couldn't understand it, but something Ratchet said must have been shocking, because the next thing I heard was a noise like a car wreck. I doubled back and found Optimus lying on the floor. He'd fallen out of his chair. I asked Ratchet if there was anything wrong and he assured me that 'while it was extremely rare, there are times when a Cybertronian's logic circuits are forced to reboot when confronted with shocking information that contradicts earlier facts or defies logical processes.' By the time Ratchet had finished his explanation Optimus was getting to his feet and looked rather sheepish that I'd caught what happened. They wouldn't tell me anything about what had caused Optimus' fall, but they assured me that Optimus was fine and I shouldn't be concerned.”

“Okay... but that still doesn't explain why you are all looking at me like I'm some kind of fancy dessert.”

Will sighed, “That's because I let your parents know that I'd heard Ratchet mention your name shortly before Optimus fell, and since it was Ratchet talking I felt safe in assuming that there was something that came up during your exam yesterday.”

Sam dropped his eyes to stare at his plate for a bit. He hadn't thought about including Will in the conversation where he told his parents about Sparky, but it made sense. Especially when he considered that he would have to work with Will's team after his conversion. He gave a small nod to solidify his conviction that this was the proper path.  
“Yeah, something did come up, but I've known about it since before I came home from the hospital after Mission City. It isn't bad... I'm not dying or anything like that... and my hands are healing well...” Sam took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, lifting his face to look at the adults arrayed on the other side of the table, “I don't know how much you all really know about what happened at the end of the Mission City battle.” Sam looked at each of their faces and saw their concerned looks, but he also saw that it would be best to start with an explanation of the end of the battle from his point of view. “Okay, at the end I was running with the Allspark tucked under my arm, and Optimus was battling Megatron. Things weren't going well and Optimus told me to plunge the Allspark's Cube into his chest, driving it into his spark. This would have destroyed them both, but Optimus was willing to sacrifice himself if it would keep the Allspark out of the Decepticon's hands. I thought that if pushing the Allspark into Optimus' spark would do this, then why not shove it into Megatron's spark? It should do the same thing. So that's what I did. The Allspark melted its way through Megatron's chest armor and killed his spark. I had to keep hold of the cube while it did this to maintain the contact, that's why my hands and arms got burned. If I'd dropped it, Megatron would have killed me and quite possibly Optimus as well.” Sam paused to look at his audience's faces, judging how they were taking the news. They were all pale, but since they didn't jump in with interruptions Sam continued, “Heh, what I didn't know... In fact what no one knew, was that the Allspark is sentient. The Cube was only a housing for it. When I used the Cube to destroy Megatron, the Allspark's essence broke free of its housing. It used up most of its stored energy during the battle, so it couldn't create a new body for itself. The Allspark didn't want to die, and it was now experiencing the world outside of the Cube for the first time, so it decided to hitch a ride inside me.”

“What?” Will exclaimed stunned by Sam's story.

“The Allspark is aware. It compressed its essence and entered my body while the cube was disintegrating and it was discharging most of its energy. In order to survive it adapted to draw energy from my metabolism and slowly rebuild its reserves.” Sam explained.

“Sam honey, what is this going to do to you?” Judy asked in a worried voice.

“Well, that's what I was talking to Ratchet about yesterday. After I discovered the Allspark's presence I shared everything that I'd found out about it and it shared everything it could express to me. It's taken a few weeks, but we've come up with ways to communicate. Sparky can see what I see, hear what I hear and feel what I touch.”

“Sparky?” Will asked with a slight grin.

“After I discovered him I couldn't bring myself to call Sparky 'It' or 'Allspark' all the time, it just felt too impersonal and pretentious so we agreed on 'Sparky' as a name and 'he' as a pronoun because there are few Cybertronians who would identify themselves with dual gendered pronouns.” Sam pulled himself back to what he needed to say, “Anyway, once we learned to talk to each other and I realized that Sparky is fully aware, I had to decide if I was going to help him recover, or ask Ratchet to remove him... I've thought about my choices for a long time... Having six weeks in the hospital with not much to do other than lay about and heal gave me plenty of time to think. I don't regret what I did during the battle, and if I was in that situation again I would make similar choices. I am awed by the discovery of the Allspark's awareness, and I’ve become committed in my desire to assist in Sparky's recovery for however long it takes.”

“How long could that be?” Ron asked in a whisper.

“If everything stays as it is, Sparky could be removed from me in fifteen years and we would both survive.”

“Fifteen years? Only if a Decepticon or a rogue doesn't get to you first.” Will pointed out.

Sam nodded, “True enough, and who can say how many unfriendly Cybertronians will arrive on Earth during that time? There's another thing you all should know, right now Sparky gives off a low level radio and electronic signal. As he grows stronger, the signal will too. At the moment, only Bumblebee and Ratchet's scanners are sensitive enough to pick it up, but others with similar capabilities are coming and they’re not so friendly.”

“Is there anything we can do to hide it?” Will asked, his military training showing as he sensed the potential threat.

“Well, I could stay here and have Ratchet set up some kind of shielded living space. Will, remember what Agent Banacheck told us when we first saw the cube? It was shielded by the Hoover Dam, four hundred yards of concrete and stone in all directions to keep the Allspark's signal from reaching the surface. I would only be able to leave whatever Ratchet sets up if I was covered by some kind of active signal shielding.”

“Active signal shielding?” Ron asked, “What like some kind of scrambler or noise canceling gizmo?”

“Essentially, yes and it would need to be almost constantly re-calibrated,” Sam explained.

“Because Sparky is alive, right?” Will asked.

Sam nodded, “Yeah and since the signal is complex, the calibration would have to be done by a Cybertronian. I can't sense it, so I can't calibrate a shield against it.”

“Could Bee do it?” Will asked.

“Yes, either him or Ratchet can shield my presence if I'm riding inside their alt modes. The problem with that is their shielding becomes ineffective when I'm not riding in them.”

“What about something that you could carry around?” Ron asked.

“Ratchet said he'd look into it, but it would have to accept outside modulation. If I carried something that just blocked or dampened all the signals I'm giving off then I'd interfere with radio signals, cell phones and satellite receivers. Heh, I'd probably have to carry a sticker warning of possible interference with pace makers.”

“Really? I would have thought that would have been a solution.” Will said.

“So did I at first, but then Ratchet explained a bit on how sensitive Cybertronian scanners can be. He also said that if I carried something that blocked all the signals I'd appear as a 'hole' in any sweeps, which for most of them would spur a closer investigation.”

“So the trick is that you need to block the signals given off by Sparky, but still be able to give off the signals of being Sam.” Judy said with a thoughtful look on her face.

“Precisely, and that's a lot harder than it sounds.” Sam agreed, “It's made even more difficult because my entire body gives off the signal. If any part of me edges outside of the dampening field we set up I'd run the risk of Sparky's signal being picked up by an unfriendly.”

“How big of a risk are we talking about?” Ron asked.

“Right now my risk is low, but as Sparky recovers the signal will strengthen. I probably have about six months before the average Cybertronian would be able to pick up the signal.”

“Well that gives us a little time to explore options,” Will put in. “I can talk to Epps to see what kinds of scramblers and dampeners are available.”

Sam gave a half nod and looked down at his hands. This was the moment he'd been dreading, he needed to tell his Parents and Will about the plan to convert him into a mech before they settled too firmly on coming up with some way of dampening or blocking Sparky's signal. Giving a deep sigh he faced his Mom, she would be the one who would be the most heartbroken, but would also be the most understanding.

“Mom, Dad, there's another option... It would keep me safer and it would improve Sparky's chance of survival. It would also allow me to go out, so I wouldn't be restricted to areas with active signal scramblers.”

With a look of trepidation on her face Judy spoke quietly, “Sam, what are you talking about?”

“Mom, Dad, you both need to understand. Sparky is the Allspark. He is the artifact that brought life to both the Cybertronians and their planet Cybertron. It is the Allspark's purpose to create life. Sparky is who generated the first Cybertronian sparks or souls.” Sam turned to Will, “Will, you remember when Agent Simmons demonstrated what 'Cube energy' could do to a cell phone, right?”

Will nodded, but remained silent.

“The energy still exists, only instead of being contained in a gigantic metallic cube it is contained inside of me. This energy can essentially transform me into a full Cybertronian, my soul would become a spark, my memories would become data-files, and my body would become a machine.”

“Son?” Ron asked in a very quiet fear filled whisper. Judy just looked at Sam speechless.

“Mom, Dad... I can understand that you don't want to hear about what Sparky is capable of. It frightened me when I first found out it was possible. I've spent a few weeks going over everything in my head. If I were to say no, I could live with you for at most the next six months. Then I would have to move here and I would be either confined to specially built quarters, or restricted to traveling inside one of the Cybertronian's alt modes for the next fifteen years. At which point I would undergo a surgical procedure to remove the Allspark from my body. 

“I would be thirty two before I would be allowed to leave the base. I doubt that I could maintain a friendship with Mikaela, or Miles under those circumstances. Will and the other members of the military would have moved on during that time... I would become some kind of whispered secret... the boogieman in the basement... I don't want to live like that...” Sam paused and sighed, “Agreeing to let Sparky transform me into a Cybertronian isn't a decision I'm taking lightly, but it is a decision that provides me with the best hope for survival while maintaining a meaningful existence. As a Mech I'll be able to actively defend Sparky as he recovers and I'll be able to mask his signal without relying on outside technology, or becoming dependent on the constant presence of other Cybertronians. I would still need to live here for a while, until I learned to defend myself, and how to live like a Cybertronian, but eventually I'd be allowed to visit and I wouldn't be restricted to quarters on the base.”

“So you're willing to become like Bumblebee in order to defend the Allspark?” Judy asked.

“Yes Mom, I am. I wouldn't be exactly like Bee, in fact I'm not even going to be strictly Cybertronian. Sparky and Ratchet are working together to develop something new. Will, you remember how big the Cube was when we first saw it?”

“Yeah, it took up that entire cavern. It was huge until Bumblebee did something that caused it to collapse in on itself. It ended up about the size of a basketball.”

“Right, the Allspark has the capability to shift a good amount of its energy and mass into a 'sub-space' pocket. Most Cybertronians have a little of this ability; Ironhide can shift his cannons, Ratchet can shift most of his tools, Optimus can shift his rifle and his Energon blade. The Allspark can do this on a much larger scale, and having a plan to rebuild me from the ground up as well as planning out what we want ahead of time, he can transfer some of that ability into my form which would give me a greater degree of flexibility. In the designs I've seen I'll be able to have a fairly human-sized bipedal form, a Mech form somewhere in size between Jazz and Bumblebee, and an alt car form.”

“So you'd have three forms?” Will asked.

“Yeah, Sparky and I were thinking it might help if the Autobots had a representative that was more human sized.”

Will looked thoughtful for a moment, “You could be right with that. It's been difficult getting some of the higher-ups to listen because most of them can't see past the 'really big machine' factor.”

“Sam,” Judy spoke up, “do you have any idea what you'd look like?”

“Well, Sparky and I have been tinkering a bit with characters from Hollywood, Science Fiction, and Japanese Manga. Right now the Manga characters hold the most promise because those artists put a lot of thought and detail into their character designs and they often include characters that are cyborgs or androids. I've been trying to come up with something that would be seen as being between what I look like now and what a mech my size would look like. There are a couple that Ratchet might approve with only minor modifications.”

“Is there any way you could show us?” Judy asked.

“Hm, Sparky did say that he might be able to route data through one of the Autobots' holo-projectors. Do you want to see if we can find Ratchet and ask if we could try?” Sam paused and looked at his parents, dismissing Will for the time being. “Are you two alright with this? I mean, you're taking it awfully well considering how big this is. I guess I sort of figured you'd be freaking out, crying or yelling at me. Mad that this happened and angry at either the Autobots, the government or something.”

Judy and Ron looked at each other and then turned back to Sam. Surprisingly Ron was the one who spoke, “Sam, would having us yell at you and carry on change your decision?”

“No, I'm committed to helping Sparky and the Cybertronians.”

Ron nodded, “Then you have your answer. It wouldn't change what is going to happen if we get angry, or forbid you from doing it. You would just go behind our backs to get it done. Also the reasons you've given show a lot of consideration and thought. I'm still a little confused about what this Allspark is, and what it will be doing to you. I'm also concerned about this whole signal business, but it sounds to me that you've already considered several options, educated yourself about the potential problems and solutions and you've chosen the clearest path. I can't ask for much more than that. You'd be going off to college soon, so we'd have to get used to you being away and making your own decisions. This is all just happening a little sooner and quicker. We'll be okay...” Ron paused and put his arm around Judy's shoulders. She was teary eyed and sniffing, but Sam could see the proud look behind the tears as she nodded.

They sat for a few minutes as Judy collected herself and dried her tears. Sam took his breakfast tray off to the bussing area, scraped his plates and put his dishes in the proper tubs to be washed later. As he returned to the table the others stood and Sam led the way to the med bay where he was fairly certain to find the citron hued medic.  
Ratchet turned as his sensors registered on the four people standing at the door of the med bay. “Good morning Sam, Will, Mr. and Mrs. Witwicky.”

“Hi Ratchet, Mom and Dad were wondering if you could share some holograms of the designs you're working on with Sparky for my conversion.”

Ratchet raised a curious eyebrow as he looked down at Sam, “So you finally told them?”

“Yes, but they want to know more. I also figured that Will should know because I know that I would be working with him and the other members of the military on base after I was changed.”

“That is a good idea Sam. Would it be acceptable to bring Optimus and Bumblebee into this conversation?”

“I guess, and you may as well bring in Ironhide too.”

“Very well, then I would suggest we take this discussion to Prime's office. There's more room, and fewer things to go crunch if Ironhide needs to reboot after finding out about Sparky.” Ratchet said with a grin. This time he didn't offer a lift to Sam or Will since their destination was nearby. Calling ahead on an internal com, Ratchet got everyone assembled in just a few minutes.

Ironhide was the last to arrive, Ratchet had summoned Bumblebee and Sgt. Epps as well. The group gathered in Optimus' office, the humans taking seats in a few folding chairs that had been placed on top of the massive desk.

Ironhide nodded in greeting, “So Ratchet, what's up?”

“I made a discovery while I was examining Sam yesterday that affects all of us.” Ratchet began, “As you know at the end of the Mission City Battle Sam somehow activated the Cube and used it to permanently de-activate Megatron. It was during that action Sam sustained the severe burns to his hands and arms. The burns were caused by the Cube's disintegration and the energy released. After the battle only a few shards of the Cube were recovered and upon examination they were found to only give off a residual amount of the Allspark's energy signature.”

All the Autobots nodded, this wasn't news, they had all taken the chance to examine the small shards Optimus currently kept in one of his carry-holds.

“Now when I examined Sam I was quite astonished to discover that there was an energy signature in his presence that was very similar to the Cube.”

“What?” Ironhide broke in.

“It's very weak, but Sam is generating an energy signature that is significantly similar to what was given off by the Cube.”

“Not possible, the boy's an organic,” Ironhide argued. “He doesn't have anything in his body that could generate such a signal.”

“Normally I would agree,” Ratchet answered, “but I cannot deny the proof of my own sensors. When Sam arrived I immediately picked up the signal he generates. Why else did you think I carried him off to the med-bay so quickly?”

Ironhide shrugged with a low whirring of gears, “Didn't really think too much about it. You've been giving regular exams to all the people who were at Mission City, and I've seen what you've had to do to pin down some of the soldiers when they're on their fourth or fifth check up. I've also seen how fast Sam is on his feet, I just figured that you didn't want to give him a chance to run.”

Sam could definitely feel the amusement coming from Bumblebee and Optimus. Ratchet just stared at Ironhide for a moment before blowing air out of his vents in the Cybertronian equivalent of a sigh. “Anyway, after some initial scans I determined that the signal was self perpetuating and dispersed throughout Samuel's entire body.”

“But where did it come from?” Ironhide asked.

Sam spoke up, “It's from the Allspark.”

“Sam you destroyed the Allspark when you took out Megatron.” Ironhide said gently.

“No, I destroyed the Cube, but the Cube was not the Allspark.” Sam explained.

“What?” Ironhide asked in confusion.

“The Cube was only a container to house the Allspark. When I activated it with the intent to take down Megatron, the Allspark scanned its surroundings and me to try to figure out what was needed. It agreed that Megatron was too much of a threat, and too badly damaged, so it decided to de-activate him.”

“Wait, the Allspark 'agreed', it 'decided'? How? There's nothing I've ever seen that would imply that the Allspark could agree or make decisions.” Ironhide complained.

“True, but even though our scientists studied it for Megavorns before I decided to send it out into space from Cybertron we didn't know everything there was to know about it. The Cube held far more mysteries than it gave up.” Optimus said, joining in.

Ratchet spoke, “We knew that the Cube could create life, it could repair heavily damaged Mechs, and it was a source of energy. However, none of the scientists could explain how the Allspark worked, or why it sometimes failed to repair a mech or enspark a protoform.”

Ironhide nodded, “Okay, I'll admit that there was a lot that we didn't know about the cube, but being self-aware? I'm gonna need proof of that.”

Sam stood from his chair and moved to sit at the edge of the desk. He removed his splints and long gloves, ignoring the hiss of shock from Will and Bobby as they saw his burns for the first time. “You want proof Ironhide? All you have to do is touch my hands.”

Ironhide gave Ratchet a pointed look and Ratchet gestured toward Sam indicating that Ironhide should follow Sam's suggestion. With a shrug Ironhide reached out and gently took Sam's hands in his own. Sam felt the now familiar mental lurch as Sparky dragged them both into his mental landscape. Once things had settled Sam spoke, “Weapons Specialist Ironhide, I'd like to introduce you to Sparky, also known as the Allspark. Sparky, this is Optimus Prime's Weapons Specialist, designation Ironhide.”

Sparky flashed and glittered over the space between their joined hands. Ironhide glared at the display, but sent out an inquiring ping.

Sam could feel the Allspark's humor as it answered Ironhide's request for its 'name, rank and serial number'. Sparky sent its answer in strict Cybertronian, knowing that Ironhide would be extremely tetchy if it answered using the more relaxed forms that it learned from Bumblebee, or worse yet the 'language' that it had developed with Sam.  
Sam knew that moment that Ironhide finally realized that he was telling the truth. Ironhide's head jerked up, his optics blinked and went dark, and their connection snapped as the big black mech toppled to the floor with a resounding crash. Sam blinked as he re-centered his thoughts to Optimus' office and saw everyone except Ratchet cringing and wincing as they looked at the toppled Topkick. Ratchet moved over and made a few quick scans.

“He'll be fine once he reboots. Ironhide's never been as glitchy as Prowl or Red, but I guess the shock of this was just a bit much. His processors are going to ache a bit for the next day or so, but there's no permanent damage.” Ratchet explained to Optimus.

“Good,” Optimus replied before turning to look at Sam, “May I?” he asked as he brought one of his hands close.

Sam looked at Ratchet who shrugged, “I don't know if you'll glitch him too,” Ratchet answered Sam's unasked question. “I've already given him my report of our earlier conversation, so I don't think it will happen again, but interacting directly with the Allspark is different.”

“Maybe you should lay down Sir,” Will suggested. “Then at least you won't fall over again.”

Optimus raised an eyebrow at Will's suggestion and then saw Ratchet's shrug, deciding it wouldn't hurt, the two of them dragged Ironhide out of the way so that there was enough room on the floor for Optimus to recline. Bumblebee gently lifted Sam down from the desktop to the floor. Sam then touched Optimus' shoulder with his bare hands, to establish a contact for Sparky. He gave a small shudder and blinked, the mental lurch he had been growing comfortable with was different this time and when Sam became aware he was quite surprised to find that they were both the same size. Sparky was where Sam expected him, hovering over his outstretched palm. Optimus was looking around Sam's mental construct.

“This is very good Sam,” he rumbled approvingly, “It shows an excellent amount of observational skill.”

“Ah, thank you. Do you have any idea why we're the same size?”

“Perhaps it is because the Allspark wants us to think of each other as equals, or maybe your mind understood my desire for us to communicate at the same level and interpreted that it would be necessary for us to be of similar stature.”

“I suppose, after all this is all inside my head.” Sam mused, “I guess that the next thing to do is introductions. Optimus Prime, I'd like to introduce Sparky, also known as the Allspark. Sparky, I'd like to introduce Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobots.”

Optimus opened up a comm line and sent a query toward the spinning cube. The Allspark blinked and flashed and soon they were exchanging data streams freely. Sam took a mental step back and let them talk. Sam knew that Sparky no longer carried any anger over Optimus' decision to send the Cube out into space to keep it from Decepticon hands, but he also realized that Optimus would be the kind of Mech to carry a lot of guilt once he had learned of the Allspark's sentient nature.

After a while Optimus looked at Sam, “Samuel, I must ask, is this plan of yours really what you want?”

Sam nodded, “Yes as I told the others, this wasn't some kind of snap decision. Sparky and I began talking about it while I was still in the hospital. I can't say that I didn't feel guilty before discovering Sparky when I first learned about how much Cybertronians had come to depend on the Allspark to create new sparklings, and power Cybertron. Then when I discovered him I was enraged because first your people and then Sector Seven had essentially enslaved him. I know that your people revere the Allspark, but your scientists still studied it to try and figure out why it existed and how it worked. Then here on Earth the scientists of Sector Seven experimented on the cube and forced it to discharge sparks that they then attempted to study. I realized that I wanted to help Sparky break away from that kind of treatment and that I would do anything to help him. If that meant giving up my life, going on the run, or hiding myself away until he could be separated from me and build a body for himself, I would do it. If it meant sharing my body and agreeing to be transformed into something with a better chance at surviving then that was what I would do.”

Optimus nodded, “Very well Sam, please let me know if there is anything I can do to make your transition easier.”

“Thank you, your acceptance means a lot. We're not planning on making this widely known. We'll be safer if we keep the continuing existence of the Allspark as quiet as possible.”

“Will there be a time when the two of you can stand separately?”

“Eventually,” Sam agreed, “We're still working out the details, but the plan right now is that our sparks will remain separate. Then once Sparky has recovered he'll be able to create his own body. In a way I'm going to be a prototype, Sparky will design his chassis from the template he works up for me with any modifications we find necessary.”

“That will bring some attention to you, being a new or unique design could make you a target.”

“True, but not as much as being a squishy human who gives off the same energy signature as the Allspark.”

Optimus nodded, “You are correct... I am wondering, have you given any thought to how you will explain your origins to other Cybertronians?”

Sam sighed, “No, we haven't had a lot of time to work on things beyond what we need to do for my conversion, and Sparky didn't have enough background information to work with.”

“Sparky did ask for my history files of our civil war and what happened to force my decision to send the Cube into space. I hope that they will be helpful. You should also consider that you could justify having Earth origins, the Cube has been on this planet long enough to affect its surroundings and Human technology has advanced to the point where their engineers could build a protoform that would hold a spark. This would have the added benefit of explaining your design innovations as being best suited to this planet's environments. It would also make your youth less of an issue. While it was an uncommon practice, there were occasions where a Cybertronian protoform would be constructed in their full adult form before being taken to the Allspark. The builders would then ask the Allspark to give the protoform a spark. I can think of several times where innovative or specialist designs were handled this way.”

Sam nodded, he would have to give it some more thought and he was sure that Sparky would want to talk it over privately. There would be no getting around the fact that he would be treated as a very young Mech, Sam was just hoping that he could avoid being coddled like a sparkling. Most Cybertronians could tell an approximate age of another Mech by the energy signature they gave off or by their internal designation, which was sent every time a Mech opened a comm channel, and since they were going to attempt to completely mask the Allspark's presence, that meant that Sam would register as an extremely young Mech.

Feeling that this conversation was over, until Sparky could digest the information Optimus had forwarded to him, Sam shifted them both back to the reality of Optimus' office. Ironhide was just beginning to stir and Ratchet hovered nearby to check on his recovery. Optimus rose smoothly from the floor and helped Sam return to his desk top. Sam could tell that Will and his Mom and Dad had been busy filling in Sgt. Epps on just what was going on and what the changes would mean for Sam.

Bobby turned and looked at Sam, “So let me get this straight, at the end of the battle in Mission City instead of following Optimus' orders to shove the cube into his spark. You decided that it would have the same effect if you shoved it toward Megatron. Somehow, the Allspark figured out your intent and agreed, then made it happen. Now, the Cube got destroyed when you took out Megatron, but since the Cube was only a fancy shell the Allspark is hitching a ride inside of your body.”

“That's right,” Sam agreed.

“Wait! I'm not finished. Will and your parents tell me that the Allspark has convinced you to let it change your body into a Cybertronian so that it can stay safe while it recovers enough to be able to build itself a new body.”

“Essentially you're correct, but it was definitely a mutual decision. I didn't agree to this until we had gone over all the options.”

“Okay, but I'm betting that it didn't have too hard of a time convincing you.”

Sam nodded in agreement, “Not after we'd gone over all the arguments. It did take a while for me to wrap my head around the idea that this was going to make me into an entirely different species. I also had to come to grips with the idea that by following this path I'm going to outlive pretty much everyone on the planet. As I said before this is not a decision I made lightly.”

“Outlive everyone?” Judy whispered.

“Yeah Mom, once I've been rebuilt into a Cybertronian my potential life span will be like them. I'll be functionally immortal, barring death by accident or battle. That thought kept me up at nights for quite a while. Then I realized that I wouldn't be alone, I'll have Bumblebee, Optimus and the others for support. So, while I might be the only Human turned Cybertronian ever, I wouldn't have to exist all by myself.” Sam shrugged, “I'm not sure that I would have agreed to this if this would have ended up with my being alone, but then again I don't think I would have had to made this choice if the others weren't around. Without the Autobot’s arrival the cube would still be under Hoover Dam and Megatron would still be on ice.”

“Well, there's no reason to be chewing over the 'what ifs' Sam.” Judy commented with a sad smile, “You've thought this through, learned all that you could, and made your decision. We'll be here for you for as long as we can be.”

“Thanks Mom.” Sam said before moving to give Judy a hug. Ron joined in, a few tears streaking his face as he began to understand the true extent of Sam's commitment and sacrifice.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long wait on this chapter - My muse has been romping through other sandboxes lately. Also I'm getting close to the end of what I've had pre-written for this story. I'll do my best to never abandon a story, but updates may become even more occasional.
> 
> Warning - Sparkling cuteness ahead!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "(Text text text)" = Words spoken in a language other than the common language of an area.
> 
> Carryhold = A Subspace pocket where Cybertronians store a variety of things.

The next day was filled with Sam spending time in the Med Bay conversing with both Sparky and Ratchet about potential designs for his conversion. Ratchet patiently answered their questions and when he needed to show Sam what he was talking about he took them over to the area where he was working on rebuilding Jazz's chassis.

“Um Ratchet, I've been meaning to ask, I can see that this is Jazz's chassis, but where is his spark?” Sam asked Ratchet was showing how a Cybertronian's primary systems were housed in the heavily armored and shielded area directly surrounding their spark. With Jazz's armor stripped away and his torso in pieces it was clear to see that his spark housing was dark.

“No need to worry Sam, Jazz is perfectly safe. Would you like to see him? I admit it is taking longer than I'd like to put his chassis back together. I'm having to rework a lot of the scrap I salvaged from the Decepticon's frames, and it was a long time even before Jazz got torn in two since he'd had a full service check up. It was always a struggle to get him in for regular checks, so I'm taking advantage of his current condition to do some repairs that have been put on the back burner for several vorn. We didn't have access to facilities or equipment before the squad's last push to Earth, and our supplies have been short for a very long time. Ah, but I digress, would you like to see Jazz?”

Sam nodded, “Please.”

Ratchet offered his hand and Sam climbed on. They made their way over to a sectioned off portion of the room. Moving aside one of the partitions Sam saw a space with a couple of low tables, piled with bits and pieces of wire, circuit boards and a variety of children's toys.

“Toys?” Sam asked as he saw box of building blocks and another of toy cars.

Ratchet lowered himself to the floor and put Sam down, “You'll understand in a minute. Now you'll need to be quiet and let Jazz come to you. I'm sure he's going to want to check you out. He might remember being around humans, but it is unlikely. You saw his chassis over there, it still contains all of his memory and processors. To rescue him I had to remove his spark from the damaged chassis. I transferred it to a sparkling protoform, to keep it safe and give me the time to perform the repairs.”

“You transferred his spark, and put it into what is essentially a baby?”

“Yes.” Ratchet said with a nod, “The protoform will keep Jazz's spark alive and healthy, and as long as I can return it to his chassis within a Megabreem, or approximately 15.84 of your years, he won't show any effects from having his spark transferred.”

“Will he remember being transferred?”

“Depends, when I transfer him back I'll keep an eye on him. I've seen cases where a Mech is just happy to remember the experience in a similar way to the way Humans have expressed remembering dreams, and I've seen cases where a Mech has to know exactly what happened to them. I'll store the memory chips from the protoform in either case, and I'll ask them if they want those memories. This is the first time I've had to perform this procedure on Jazz, so I'm not sure of his preferences.”

“There are others who you've had to do this to?”

Ratchet nodded, “We were at war Sam, I've been a battlefield medic for so long, there are very few Mechs still in existence that I haven't had to repair at one time or another.”

“You've worked on both Autobots and Decepticons haven't you.”

“Yes, at the beginning of the war all the medics were considered neutral, and we tried to treat both sides equally. It wasn't until Megatron started to move against the neutrals that I chose a side.” Ratchet explained.

Sam nodded, he could understand that. “Okay, so where are you keeping Jazz?”

“Right here,” Ratchet answered as he opened one of his carry-holds and withdrew a dark silver hued sphere. Placing it on the floor Ratchet gave it a light stroke with his fingertips and a blue light was emitted from his palm. “I've been keeping him in an induced recharge, to keep his exposure to external stimuli low which helps keep his spark from forming too many connections to this frame. If that happens it could cause complications when I transfer Jazz back to his chassis. However, I'm sure that waking up a time or two with you around won't harm him. Jazz has one of the most resilient sparks I've ever seen. Just remember what I said earlier, stay quiet and calm, let him come over to you if he wants.”

The sphere made a few whirring and clicking noises, and began to rock a little before its surface split and broke apart. What emerged was a bipedal Mech that if Sam was standing would come up to waist height. It's contour was smooth, and Sam could see that it bore many of the features he remembered from Jazz. His arms ended in four clawed hands and his head was covered by Jazz's characteristic helm and visor. The little Mech looked up at Ratchet and began twittering and chirping, sounding a little like a modem or fax machine connecting to a phone line. Sam realized that this was the equivalent of Cybertronian 'baby talk' and asked for Sparky to translate.

"(Ratch, who this?)"

"(This is Sam. He's one of the Humans I told you about.)" Ratchet explained in a more melodious series of chirps and tones.

"(Sam come to play?)" Jazz chirped back, an excited quiver running through his frame.

"(I'll ask him. Are you hungry?)"

Jazz tipped his head to one side for a moment, "(Yes please! Play then eat!)"

"(Okay, I'm going to leave Sam with you to play together for a little while and get some food ready. Now remember what I told you about Humans Jazz, they are organics, so no roughhousing.)"

"(No roughhousing.)" Jazz agreed with a solemn nod.

Ratchet turned to Sam, “Do you mind? It will only take a bit for me to put something together. I've warned him about playing too hard, but if he gets a little heavy handed give a yell.”

“Does he know English?”

“It's unlikely, those files are still in his adult chassis. Did you understand what I told him?”

Sam nodded, “I've learned a bit and Sparky's been translating for me, but I can't speak Cybertronian outside of my mindscape.”

“I wouldn't recommend making any introductions between those two if you can help it Sam. I'm not sure what it might do to his processors. Remember, right now he's the equivalent of a sparkling.”

“I'll try, so far that kind of contact has required that I take off my gloves. If I keep them on we should be okay, but I'll ask Sparky to hold off on bringing Jazz into my head until he's back in his adult chassis.”

Ratchet nodded and began to get up. Jazz had watched Ratchet talking to Sam closely, his head tipped to one side, actively listening to the sounds that they made. He knew that it was a language, and he liked how it sounded, but he couldn't understand it. Looking around Jazz thought about what he could do to start to learn it. He saw the things he liked to play with and an idea came to him. Maybe he could ask Sam what they were called in his language. Nodding and chirping to himself happily he scurried over to the box that contained the blocks Ratchet had given him to play with. Ratchet had told him that Sam was organic, and that the blocks were made from wood, which was also organic. So it made sense to Jazz that Sam would understand what he was asking when he asked what they were called. Picking up the box he carried it over to where Sam was sitting. Jazz pulled out a block and showed it to Sam. He pointed to it and chirped, "(Sam, what name?)"

Sam blinked, surprised that Jazz would ask something like that since he was sure that Ratchet had told Jazz what it was.

Jazz huffed and tried again, "(Sam, what you call this?)"

Sam's eyebrows jumped as he realized just what Jazz was asking, the little Mech wanted to know what it was called in English. Remembering the early days of learning to communicate with Sparky, Sam grinned and said, “Block”

Jazz nodded quickly and gave Sam a grin. Pulling several more of the same shape blocks from the box he pointed at them and then at Sam.

“Blocks” Sam provided.

Jazz nodded and then pulled out a variety of different shapes, making sure that they were all the same color. With a wave of his hand he indicated all of them and looked up at Sam expectantly.

“Blocks” Sam said again causing Jazz to tilt his head to one side. Jazz went back to the original set of blocks and pointed at one.

“Block” Sam provided, Jazz then used both his hands to indicate the entire first set. “Blocks” Sam said. Jazz pointed at the second set. “Blocks” Sam said again. Jazz looked at all the pieces for a moment and then gave a decisive nod. 

Picking up one of the original set he pointed at it "(Sam, what shape name?)" Jazz asked as he drew circles around the block with his finger.

“Cube,” Sam provided. Jazz put the cube down and picked up another block. “Wedge.” Another block. “Column.” “Pyramid.” They worked their way through all the geometric shapes, and then ran into the ones that Sam couldn't think of a name for. Sam knew that every block set he'd ever seen had pieces like these, but as far as he knew they didn't have an official name. The pieces left over were the ones that were a rectangle with a half circular 'bite' out of one long side, the ones that Sam would have called 'rockers' which were half columns having the same diameter as a long rectangular block and were the same thickness. When Jazz pointed at the first one of this set Sam had to shrug and shake his head. Jazz tilted his head and blinked. Looking up the little Mech saw that Ratchet had returned and began twittering and chirping.

"(Ratch! Sam teaching me what he calls these.)" Jazz chirped as he pointed at the blocks laid out on the floor.

Ratchet nodded, "(I heard, that's why I waited a bit before coming back.)"

"(Sam tell me names of all, but these.)" Jazz chirped sadly as he pointed to the oddball blocks, "(Ratch, you ask! Need names.)"

Ratchet nodded again and looked down at Sam, “Jazz would like to know the names for those pieces.”

“I don't think they have official names. Every block set I ever played with has them, but what I called them depended on who I was playing with.” Sam explained.

\--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--oo--

Sam ended up spending close to two hours playing with the sparkling form of Jazz in Ratchet's med bay before the medic came over with a sparkling sized cube of pink glowing liquid. Jazz chittered eagerly as he moved to put his toys away. When all the blocks and other toys were picked up, Jazz took a seat on the floor and reached out with both hands. Ratchet handed over the cube and motioned for Sam to leave the area they'd set aside for play.

“He should go into recharge once he's finished that and I'll put him back in a carryhold. I didn't think he'd go for so long before demanding something to eat, being that small he doesn't have a lot of reserves. However I should have remembered that Jazz has always been a Mech to get wrapped up in things that interest him. The fact that you were helping him learn a new language, would have kept him engaged even if he was in his adult chassis.”

“How long before you can return Jazz to his old frame?” Sam asked.

“I estimate that it will take me about another month. I need to fabricate quite a lot of the parts, and what we salvaged from the wrecked Decepticons can only do so much.”

Sam sent a question to Sparky about what they might be able to do. Sparky replied that he was unsure, But with Jazz's spark being in a sparkling frame there was a high risk of putting a new spark in the damaged frame when they repaired it. Also Sparky wasn't sure they had enough energy stored away to perform the procedure as he had already started on the foundations of Sam's conversion. Sam blinked and looked up when Ratchet made a small inquiring noise, “Oh, I was just asking Sparky if we could do anything to help, but with Jazz's spark being outside his adult frame... There's too much risk that making the repairs would put a new spark into it.”

Sam felt a scan wash over his skin as Ratchet answered, “I wouldn't want you to try anything with your energy levels where they are now. While I can tell that your metabolism is adjusting to support yourself and the Allspark, my readings say that your reserves are critically low. Once the Allspark has completed a bit more of the conversion at the cellular level you may be able to tolerate an infusion of medical grade Energon, which will boost your reserves and speed up the process.”

As Ratchet finished speaking they heard the distinctive sound of Jazz transforming back into the spherical closed form of his sparkling frame, “Like clockwork,” Ratchet murmured as he picked up the empty cube and tucked Jazz into his carryhold. “Sam, you should go have something to eat and rest if you can. That will make it easier for the Allspark to work on your cells.”

Sam nodded and left, hiking back down the cavernous hallway toward the cafeteria. When he reached the halfway point he sighed, “Go get something to eat, he says. Get some rest, he says. I'd love to... If the cafeteria and my room weren't several miles away. I tell ya Sparky, one of the things I'm really looking forward to is having my own wheels to race around on.”

“I feel a need...” Sparky chirped in Sam's head.

“A need for speed!” Sam completed the quote with a laugh as he continued to trudge down the hall. A minute or two later Epps showed up, driving a golf cart.

“Remind me to get you a radio Sam. We would have sent some one to pick you up. I don't think the bots really understand how big this place is.”

“How'd you find out this time?”

“Ratchet called to make sure you got something to eat. He wanted to be sure you ate foods high in iron and minerals.” Epps explained as Sam hopped on.

“Figures it was something I already knew. When I decided to do this I started looking up food values and eating vitamin and mineral supplements like candy. I've already noticed that while I don't have a strong desire to consume as many vitamins as I did at the beginning of the process I need as many minerals as I can get my hands on... You know those dark green iron supplements?”

“Yeah, always hated those things. They make me constipated.” Epps grumbled.

“Haven't had that problem personally, but the last bottle I bought lasted all of half an hour. I chewed them up like PEZ candy.”

After a moment of stunned silence Epps spoke, “Maybe Ratchet can come up with something... I don't know... Stronger, or more balanced?”

“I'm sure he could, but I don't want to think about eating a Decepticon.”

The golf cart screeched to a halt as Epps cried, “What!”

Sam snickered, “Well, think about it. Unless the Autobots are willing to donate bits, where do you think Ratchet will find the metal and alloys to create a balanced supplement for a Cybertronian? While all the raw elements of Cybertronian metal and alloys are present here on Earth, they're scattered and rare... Maybe if I thought of it more like recycling... No, I'm still going to be eating it.”

Epps started the golf cart again and shook his head, “Gotta say Sam, I think it's better you than me going through this. I'm not sure how you're holding it together, I'd be freaking out.”

“There were a few moments,” Sam said with a nod. “I won't deny that, but when I discovered Sparky inside me he was so small and fragile. When I called him by name he was terrified. I guess that's when I made my choice to help however I could. I mean... in that moment... I realized that the Allspark wasn't just a thing, or some kind of generator, but that it was alive just like Bumblebee or Optimus. After that I couldn't turn away.”

“I'm going to play devil's advocate here. What if the Allspark had been more like Megatron, or those other ones who were all for destroying everything?” Epps asked as he drove, “After what we saw under Hoover Dam, with that box and Glen's cell phone... How'd you figure the Allspark wouldn't want to take over?”

“At first we could only communicate with impressions of feelings and yes or no questions. While I was recovering in the hospital after Mission City, Sparky was observing me. It wasn't until the last couple of weeks there that I knew about him, then we had to learn how to talk to each other. By that point he'd learned all about what Megatron and the other Decepticons did and what I'd seen happen with Sector Seven. When we could talk he let me know that the bots made by Sector Seven were drones, their only purpose was to gather information to give Sparky a better understanding of the environment around the Cube. Remember Mr. Banachek said that the rock and concrete of the dam blocked the Cube's energy signature? Sparky was basically blind in there, and since none of the drones returned to report, he started making them tougher and more heavily armed to give them a chance to return to him and report in what was apparently a hostile environment. Drones don't have sparks like the Autobots or Decepticons. They're not meant to last... I guess you could think of them like a remote controlled camera, or like a guidance package on a missile that sends back pictures? Drones are disposable, away from the Allspark they would have stopped working after a couple of weeks.”

“A couple of weeks?”

“The equivalent of two Cybertronian days.”

“Okay,” Epps said slowly as he tried to wrap his head around the differences in scale. By this point they were parked outside the cafeteria. Clambering off they went inside where Sam proceeded to fill a tray and Epps grabbed a cup of coffee, before settling in next to Sam and continuing the conversation, “So that still doesn't explain how you knew that Sparky wouldn't just decide to make an army of Bots and take over like you said Megatron wanted to do.”

Sam shrugged as he finished a mouthful of food, “The origins of the Allspark were lost long before Cybertron was created. All they have are vague ideas and myths. Even Sparky is unsure of how long he’s been around. With that in mind what everyone pretty much agrees with is that the Allspark was created as a tool. A device made with the purpose to imprint a basic programming template and provide the initial ‘charge’ to a semi-autonomous machine. As part of its function the Allspark was given the ability to record information received from the memories and sensors included on those machines when he was connected. He could also make simple decisions to adjust the imprinted programming so that the machines could adapt to a variety of environments and purposes. For a very very long time the Allspark was just a thing, a generator, or more properly a condenser that collected energy from its environment. It took in radiation from stars, cosmic rays and the like and converted it into the energy that creates ‘Sparks’. A Cybertronian’s ‘Spark’ in its most crude form could be considered just a fancy battery, a well of energy that provides power to their primary systems. Whoever created the Allspark then used those abilities to put ‘Sparks’ into increasingly complex machines with programming that was sophisticated enough to be considered intelligent and self-aware by any test we might come up with. 

“It was because the Allspark also had the ability to record information about the machines it imprinted and charged over time that it eventually evolved its own awareness. An awareness that was trapped inside the housing of the Cube and limited to only periodic contact with its creations.”

“Being isolated like that wouldn’t make me feel very kindly toward anyone.” Epps commented, “What kept Sparky from thinking Megatron’s goals were a good idea?”

Sam thought for a bit as he ate a few more bites, “As far as feeling isolated, Sparky doesn’t feel time like we do. He was happy for whatever contact he could get, but he did feel loneliness once he was aware. As far as why he chose not to follow Megatron? I’d say it was mostly due to history. The Allspark’s primary purpose was to create machines that built stuff, processed raw materials, or transported stuff. Generally the things that support a civilization. When the civilization that created him eventually faded the Allspark and the machines it helped create remained, but by that point the machines had become their own civilization. A civilization that was capable of creating their own sparks without help from the Allspark. The machines spread and diversified becoming the beings we know as Cybertronians, and the Cube became an object of awe and wonderment, something to study and protect. It was kept in a special complex, under guard and held in reverence, while its original purpose was lost. Eventually the Cybertronians began to experience the challenges of progress and expansion with limited resources which led to cycles of conflict. Megatron’s rise to power was only the latest of these conflicts, but it was possibly the most encompassing of them. For the majority of the war with the Decepticons the Cube was still on Cybertron, and while limited the Allspark could still gather information about its environment. It could feel when sparks close to it were extinguished and it kept a record of all the mechs it was called upon to repair. The destruction caused by the Decepticons went against the Allspark’s primary function, but it could do nothing to stop it while it was still encased inside the Cube. It wasn’t until I gave a command which broke the container that Sparky could finally experience things first hand, or express himself.”

“And as its first act of expression the Allspark took down Megatron!” Epps interrupted, “Not an action I would have expected from something you’re telling me was made to create life.”

Sam ate a few more bites as Epps continued to simmer, “Remember, another part of the Allspark’s function was to record results and adapt to what it found. Once the Allspark’s energy touched Megatron’s spark Sparky was given a complete download of all of Megatron’s memories and history. Megatron wasn’t always a tyrant, originally he was made to be the ‘Lord Protector’. His position was comparable to Prime’s, but he was charged with coordinating the physical defense of Cybertron, while Prime was charged with coordinating the political defense of Cybertron’s citizens. Their initial dispute arose because the population had outgrown the material resources of Cybertron, and they disagreed about the methods of expanding their territory to find new sources of raw materials. Sparky also made a complete scan of all of Megatron’s systems and components. He could sense that over the years and years of warfare Megatron’s primary programming had become irreparably corrupted and that had in turn damaged his spark and core processors. The damage and destruction caused by Megatron and his forces and Megatron’s continuing desire to dominate over everything were contrary to his base programing. There was probably some point where he suffered a small glitch, which if it had been caught early enough and fixed, would have returned him to being the ‘Lord Protector’, but it was left too long and slowly ate away at his sanity and corrupted his other systems. Sparky saw that if Megatron was allowed to continue to act he would become a threat to all life in the galaxy, possibly the entire universe, it was that which sealed his fate.”

“Well even if it was Sparky’s decision you still played a part in taking down Megatron, I don't think anyone here will let you forget it,” Epps said as he raised his mug.

Sam nodded and returned his attention to the food on his plate. Once finished eating Epps gave him a lift back to quarters so he could try to sleep.


End file.
